Feldhar Square Piano: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This square piano was made by Gerhardt Feldhar in Wisconsin in 1844. Feldhar immigrated to Wisconsin from Westphalia, Prussia in 1840. It is possible, especially given the rather rustic style of the instrument, that he was a carpenter or a farmer who saw a piano and decided that he could make one too. This piano has a compass of FF-f4, Viennese action, with natural keys covered in bone, single-strings (first 8 notes) the rest double-strings, 3 pedals (all missing): bassoon, moderator, and dampers, wood frame, and an unadorned solid wood case.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1844
• maker: Feldhar, Gerhardt
• Object Name: piano
• Place Made: United States: Wisconsin
• ID Number: MI.309125
• catalog number: 309125
• accession number: 63676
• Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. William P. Spensley
• 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.