Ellington Orchestra Music Stand: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This music stand was made by Humes & Berg Manufacturing Co., Inc. in East Chicago, Illinois in the early 1960s. It is made of white-painted Masonite with painted red stripes and black lettering on the front. The music stand is collapsible for shipping and storage.

This music desk was used by the Duke Ellington Orchestra during the 1963 State Department Tour of the Middle East, India, and Sri Lanka.

There are archival materials of this tour in the National Museum of American History Archives: Naomi Huber Brown Papers (Documenting Duke Ellington’s Concert Tour of Asia in 1963. NMAH.AC.0429)

Materials, dates and provenance

• manufacturing date: early 1960s
• user: Duke Ellington Orchestra
• manufacturer: Humes & Berg Manufacturing Co., Inc.
• Object Name: music stand
• Physical Description: masonite (overall material)
• Physical Description: paint (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 23 1/2 in x 25 in x 1 3/4 in; 59.69 cm x 63.5 cm x 4.445 cm
• place made: United States: Indiana, East Chicago
• ID Number: 2016.0137.05
• accession number: 2016.0137
• catalog number: 2016.0137.05
• Credit Line: Gift of Frank M. Malfitano
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.