Martin Guitar, used by Libba (Elizabeth) Cotten: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This guitar was made by C.F. Martin Co. of Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1950. It is a six course (6x1) guitar, Auditorium Orchestra model #000-18, serial #114993, with a natural spruce top, mahogany body, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, pearl position dots and white side dots, and nickel-plated tuning machines.

The guitar was owned and used by Elizabeth Cotten. Cotten taught herself to play the banjo and the guitar as a child, holding the instruments upside down because she was left handed. “… I learned the banjo upside down because I couldn’t change them (the strings) because it belonged to my brother.” By the age of twelve she had composed “Freight Train.” At fifteen Libba was already married. Her religious convictions prompted her to abandon musical pursuits in favor of raising her family and serving God. Elizabeth Cotten moved to Washington, DC in the 1930s where she found employment in the home of the musical Seeger family. Hearing music around the house where she was working, Elizabeth was encouraged to pursue a professional career in music that included recordings, concerts and national tours. In 1984 she was awarded the NEA National Heritage Fellowship, and in 1985 she received a Grammy Award for her album “Elizabeth Cotten Live.” Her syncopated, lyrical blues music continues to live through a wide range of performers who have been influenced by her work.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1950
• user: Cotten, Elizabeth
• maker: C. F. Martin and Company
• Object Name: guitar
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 112 cm x 38 cm x 11 cm; 44 1/8 in x 14 15/16 in x 4 5/16 in
• Place Made: United States: Pennsylvania, Nazareth
• ID Number: 1988.0425.01
• accession number: 1988.0425
• catalog number: 1988.0425.01
• 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.