Miniature Banjo Music Box: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This music box was made by AMICA in Pasadena, California, in 1980. It is a miniature banjo music box presented by the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors Association at their 1980 convention in Pasadena. Made by members of the Southern California chapter of AMICA. This music box plays 1 tune, “Oh, Susanna” [with a banjo on my knee].

This holotype miniature model was made and proposed as a Convention souvenir by Ben Lilien of Los Angeles. It is constructed at about 1/8” scale. The Encore Banjo was invented about 1898 and probably went into manufacture a few years later. Less than 2,000 were made, most of which were placed in bars and restaurants in Greater New York. Today, only a dozen or so remain in existence. The music was played from a perforated music roll which set in motion tiny metal fingers to pluck the strings. The proper notes were sounded by buttons pressing the frets.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Object Name: music box
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 8 1/2 in x 3 1/4 in x 2 in; 21.59 cm x 8.255 cm x 5.08 cm
• place made: United States: California, Pasadena
• ID Number: 1980.0454.01
• accession number: 1980.0454
• catalog number: 1980.0454.01
• 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.