Graves & Co. 6-Keyed Flute: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This flute was made by Graves & Co. in Winchester, New Hampshire around 1830 to 1850. It is a 6-keyed flute made of cocus wood with ivory ferrules and silver keys. This flute is stamped:

Samuel Graves (1794-1878) began making instruments in West Fairlee, Vermont from 1824 to 1830. He moved to his shop to Winchester, New Hampshire in 1830 and was joined by his partners, Cyrus Graves (Samuel‘s brother), Charles Alexander, and Henry P. Anderson. The company was owned by Samuel Graves and Charles Alexander, and known as “Graves & Alexander” and later as “Graves & Co.” Brass instrument maker Samuel W. Richardson, from Rochester, New York was a partner in the company from 1832 to 1839.

The company made mostly woodwind instruments, and after London instrument maker James Keat went to work for the firm around 1837, Graves & Co. began producing brass instruments. After 1845, the company exclusively made brass instruments. Graves and Company would continue with various owners and name changes in Boston from 1850 to 1869, after which it merged with E. G. Wright & Co., Henry Esbach, and Louis F. Hartman to form the Boston Musical Instrument Manufactory.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1830-1850
• maker: Graves & Co.
• Object Name: flute
• Physical Description: cocus wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: ivory (overall material)
• Physical Description: silver (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 24 in x 1 11/16 in; 60.96 cm x 4.28625 cm
• place made: United States: New Hampshire, Winchester
• ID Number: MI.59.0058
• accession number: 220965
• catalog number: 59.0058
• Credit Line: The Strong Collection, Gift of Mrs. Howard Leland Smith
• 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.