Hawkins Upright Piano: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This upright piano was made by John Isaac Hawkins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1801. Hawkins patented an ingenious small upright piano with a folding keyboard, of which the Smithsonian’s is an example. Other piano experiments were an upright instrument, the Claviol, which bowed the strings, a system of attaching the strings to a nut on a threaded rod, and the use of springs as strings in the bass. Only three of his instruments are known to survive. This piano is serial number 6 and has a compass of FF-f3, Hawkins upright action, felt hammers (originally leather), double-strings, 2 pedals: moderator and swell (which opens shutters in the case below the keyboard), wood frame with iron bars behind the soundboard, straight-strung, and a mahogany veneer case with metal carrying handles.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1801
• maker: Hawkins, John Isaac
• Object Name: piano
• Physical Description: felt (originally leather) (hammers material)
• Physical Description: wood with iron bars (frame material)
• Physical Description: mahogany veneer (case material)
• Measurements: overall: 109.85 cm x 90.17 cm x 38.6 cm; 43 1/4 in x 35 1/2 in x 15 3/16 in
• Place Made: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• ID Number: MI.313619
• catalog number: 313619
• accession number: 64802
• Credit Line: Gift of Hugo Worch
• 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.