Walking stick owned by Cab Calloway: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A walking stick owned by Cab Calloway. The walking stick is primarily constructed from black painted wood with a gold tone, metal hand grip. The shaft of the walking stick is thin and cylindrical. Near the bottom it tapers inwards. At the bottom of the walking stick is a piece of small, brass, cylindrical hardware that connects the body to the rubber cane tip. There is black fabric adhesive tape wrapped over the brass cylinder where it attaches to the body of the walking stick. The handle grip is bulb shaped at the top with a short, tubular bottom that attaches to the body of the walking stick. The handle is molded with ornate arabesque floral and foliate patterns. Engraved text on the top of the grip reads [A. Bowen / 1902] and is accented with flourishes below each line of text.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1902
• Manufactured by: Unidentified
• Owned by: Cab Calloway, American, 1907 - 1994
• Type: walking sticks
• Medium: lacquer on wood with brass (alloy) , rubber and pressure-sensitive tape
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 1 3/4 × 36 1/4 × 1 3/4 in. (4.5 × 92.1 × 4.5 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Band (Music)
• Topic: Composers (Musicians)
• Topic: Conductors (Musicians)
• Topic: Craftsmanship
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: A2015.273.1.6
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Cabella Calloway Langsam
• 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.