Klemm & Brother's Violin: Museum Object and Cultural History

Klemm & Brother's Violin: Date made: 1865-1875. Object Name: violin. Physical Description: spruce (table material).

By the Pop Culture Files editorial team•Updated September 30, 2026•2 min read•✓ Fact-checked

The object in the museum catalogue

This violin was made in Schönbach, Germany around 1870. This instrument, along with many others, was probably made in Schönbach on contract to George and August Klemm, members of the well-known Klemm family of instrument and string makers in Markneukirchen. John G. Klemm and his brother, Frederick August Klemm immigrated to Philadelphia and established Klemm & Brother’s in 1819. From then until 1879 the company acted as instrument importers and music publishers to the American musical public. In addition to instruments of the violin family, Klemm & Brother’s also sold strings, wind instruments and even pianos. This commercial Schönbach violin, without corner blocks, is constructed with the neck and top block of maple in one piece. The long, square corners are beveled, as are the f-hole wings and the button. The violin is accompanied by an arched wooden trapezoidal case. This violin is made of a two-piece table of spruce, one-piece back of maple cut on 45o with mild irregular figure descending slightly to the left, ribs of similar maple, plain maple neck (with top block), pegbox and scroll, and a semi-transparent orange-brown varnish.

Materials, dates and provenance

Date made: 1865-1875
Object Name: violin
Physical Description: spruce (table material)
Physical Description: maple (back material)
Measurements: overall: 24 in x 7 1/4 in x 3 in; 60.96 cm x 18.415 cm x 7.62 cm
place made: Germany: Saxony, Schonbach
ID Number: MI.388697
catalog number: 388697
accession number: 182022
collector/donor number: 466
Credit Line: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Greenwood
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. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation.