William Whiteley 10-Keyed Clarinet: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This clarinet was made by William Whiteley in Utica, New York around 1829 to 1831. It is a 10-keyed clarinet in D made of boxwood with ivory ferrules and nickel silver keys. The clarinet is stamped:

William Whiteley (1789-1871) made wind instruments in Utica, New York from 1810 to 1853. He is also known for his wind instrument instruction book, The Instrumental Preceptor: comprising instructions for the clarinet, hautboy, flute and bassoon: with a variety of the most celebrated airs, marches, minuets, songs, rondeaus, trios, &c., published by Seward &Williams in 1816.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1829-1831
• maker: Whiteley, William
• Object Name: clarinet
• Object Type: musical instruments
• Physical Description: boxwood (overall material)
• Physical Description: ivory (overall material)
• Physical Description: nickel silver (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 18 in x 2 5/8 in; 45.72 cm x 6.6675 cm
• Measurements: mouthpiece: 2 3/4 in x 1 in; 6.985 cm x 2.54 cm
• Measurements: barrel: 1 7/8 in x 1 1/4 in; 4.7625 cm x 3.175 cm
• Measurements: upper joint: 6 15/16 in x 1 1/4 in; 17.62125 cm x 3.175 cm
• Measurements: lower joint: 7 1/2 in x 1 3/8 in; 19.05 cm x 3.4925 cm
• place made: United States: New York, Utica
• ID Number: 1985.0714.01
• accession number: 1985.0714
• catalog number: 1985.0714.01
• 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.