Flute made for Blind Tom by William R. Meinell: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This silver flute was made for the performer "Blind Tom" by William R. Meinell of New York and includes a body (a) modeled on the Boehm system with closed key holes, an offset G key, a closed G sharp key, and a Briccialdi B flat key; a foot joint (b) with a low B key; a silver head joint (c) with an embouchure plate with stylized floral detailing around each end and at the crown with a tuning cork; a silver head joint socket (d) used to cap the tenon of the sliver head joint when not in use; an ebony head joint (e) with a flush embouchure hole and a tuning cork, a metal ring separates the body from the crown and a metal tenon is attached to the ebony head joint for joining with the flute body; a silver head joint socket (f) used to cap the tenon of the ebony head joint when not in use.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1879-1884
• Created by: William R. Meinell, American
• Used by: Thomas Greene Wiggins, American, 1849 - 1908
• Type: flutes (aerophones)
• Medium: silver, ebony, gold, and cork
• Dimensions: H x W x D (a,b,c joined): 27 1/16 × 1 5/8 × 1 5/8 in. (68.7 × 4.1 × 4.1 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (a,b,e joined): 27 5/8 × 1 5/8 × 1 5/8 in. (70.2 × 4.1 × 4.1 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (a overall): 1 5/8 × 13 3/16 × 1 1/2 in. (4.1 × 33.5 × 3.8 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (b overall): 1 5/16 × 6 5/8 × 1 5/8 in. (3.3 × 16.8 × 4.1 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (c overall): 10 × 1 × 1 in. (25.4 × 2.5 × 2.5 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (d overall): 1 9/16 × 13/16 × 13/16 in. (4 × 2.1 × 2.1 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (e overall): 10 × 7/8 × 7/8 in. (25.4 × 2.2 × 2.2 cm)
• Place made: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Child musicians
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Slavery
• Object number: 2014.138.1a-f
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.