Music stand for Panama Francis and the Savoy Sultans: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A white foldable music stand used by the Savoy Sultans and owned by "Panama" Francis. The stand is hardboard and finished with glossy white paint and painted with text and decorations on the front. The front panel is slightly curved at the edges and reads [PANAMA / FRANCIS / SAVOY SULTANS] in black text. There are also a bass and treble clef painted in red. There are four hinged panels attached to the main front piece that expand into the form of an open box when unfolded. The top panel is a rest for sheet music and it sits at a slight angle with another hinged stop at its end. There is a white and gold manufacturer's sticker on this hinged stop. The other two panels fold out to support the top panel on either side.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: after 1974
• Manufactured by: Humes & Berg Manufacturing Co., Inc., American, founded 1935
• Owned by: David "Panama" Francis, American, 1918 - 2001
• Used by: Savoy Sultans, American, founded 1937
• Type: music stands
• Medium: paint , hardboard , paper (fiber product) and metal
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Assembled): 23 3/4 × 24 7/8 × 15 in. (60.3 × 63.2 × 38.1 cm)
• Place made: East Chicago, Lake County, Indiana, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Object number: 2013.112.5.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Alyce Francis in memory of David "Panama" Francis
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.