Ukelin Bow: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This bow was made by Oscar Schmidt, International, Inc. in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1963. It is a ukelin bow, made of a round birch dowel with fitted wooden head, both painted red, maple frog painted black and an accompanying black plastic button, “hair” of white rayon ribbon 9 mm. in width, held in place with fiber plates and metal screws. Accessioned with ukelin (Cat. MI.74.09)

Ukelins from Oscar Schmidt International were marketed by door-to-door commission salesmen from 1926 until production was terminated in 1964. This instrument, in an excellent state of preservation, is accompanied with a bow and playing instruction booklet.

Glen Peterson, the last President of Oscar Schmidt, wrote to the Smithsonian in the 1980s: "Ukelins, to the best of my knowledge, were for years made from any kind of excess scrap, drop-offs, or whatever could be found around the basic process of making zithers and/or Autoharps. When I came on the scene (1963) the tops and bottoms were made from waste 1/4" Minnesota basswood veneer that had been found unfit for Autoharps. The frames were of rock maple - always top quality." He further explains the advertisement of incorporating Philippine mahogany in making ukelins was inaccurate information.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1963
• Object Name: bow
• Physical Description: birch (overall material)
• Physical Description: maple (overall material)
• Physical Description: rayon (overall material)
• place made: United States: New Jersey, Jersey City
• ID Number: MI.74.09a
• catalog number: 74.09a
• accession number: 312073
• Credit Line: Gift of Oscar Schmidt International Inc.
• 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.