by Cherie Yurco
The American Banjo Museum is holding a gala opening celebration at its new facility in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Originally located in Guthrie, Oklahoma, the museum was founded in 1998 by Midwest City attorney Brady Hunt and Indiana industrialist and banjo player Jack Canine as The National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum.
The museum began with Canine’s donation of more than 60 ornately decorated four-string tenor and plectrum banjos
associated with jazz of the 1920s and 1930s. It immediately held the distinction of having the largest banjo collection on display in the world. The museum’s recent million-dollar acquisition of nearly 200 jazz-age banjos from a private German collection grew the museum’s holdings to more than 300 instruments.
The new state-of-the-art American Banjo Museum tells the complete story of the instrument’s 350-year history in the US. Two main galleries display hundreds of banjos, while the Banjo History gallery illustrates major periods in the banjo’s evolution from the preminstrel era to the present day.
The American Banjo Museum’s Hall of Fame honors historical and contemporary banjo performers, educators, manufacturers, and promoters. The Special Exhibit gallery displays instruments and memorabilia from past and current Hall of Fame inductees.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is held in April and is followed by the Bricktown Banjo Bash, featuring music performed in various venues throughout Oklahoma City’s Bricktown district.
Other museum facilities include Shakey’s Room, decorated with artifacts from the original Shakey’s Pizza Parlors. It’s used for workshops, video presentations, and performance and seats up to 120 people.
In its mission to promote and preserve the history of the banjo, the American Banjo Museum also acts as a repository for individual contributions of videos, recordings, music, stories, recollections, and personal biographies, ultimately to be included in a living history archive.
As part of its educational program Banjo Masters classes are held at the museum and other locations and the Banjo Blast Youth Banjo Band program, for children aged eight to 12, teaches basic banjo technique and music reading fundamentals through a repertoire of nostalgic American songs.
