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Thread: What make of mandolin is this man holding?

  1. #1
    Professional History Nerd John Zimm's Avatar
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    Hello all.

    I am doing a little project on the University of Wisconsin mandolin club which was rather active from 1893 until 1919. Along the way I found a picture in the Cadenza of one of the members who became the club's director, Hjalmar Anderson, and I am curious if someone here could identify the mandolin he is holding.

    Any information would be greatly appreciated.

    -John.
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    American (most probably)-- and VERY ornate! I love the whole image, Man & Mandolin... it speaks volumes of a quaint, bygone era. I will leave the specifics of the requested answer to the better informed. Thanks for digging this up, my friend!

    Cheers,

    Victor
    It is not man that lives but his work. (Ioannis Kapodistrias)

  3. #3
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Joseph Bohmann of Chicago made mandolins with that little point pediment thinger on the headstock.

    Here is a similar fancy one from 1901 (from Gryphon Music's site):



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    Jim

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Looks like he was on the music staff at U of W in listed in the 1901 catalog:



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    Jim

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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Wow, I just got my first gold-tooth last month and have been feeling very ZZTop, but that is some serious bling. I love it. (And the suit, as well.) I think Bohmann can go tete a tete with Puglisi.

    Like Hunter Thompson said: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

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    Way to go, Jim!

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    complimenti for your scholarship, jim - amazing.

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    Professional History Nerd John Zimm's Avatar
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    Wow, that is great detective work on the mandolin. Thank you Jim. When I was posting it I thought to myself "is there enough to go on to identify this thing?". I am really amazed by you guys.

    Hjalmar was hired pretty quickly after graduating from the UW and helped resurrect the UW Mandolin Club after a couple of down years. His father was the famous Rasmus Anderson, noted professor of Scandinavian languages at the UW. Hjalmar's tenure at the UW was fairly short, I forget the exact year but I want to say it was 1902 or 1903 that he moved to Seattle and was replaced by one Frank Bach. Anyway, Hjalmar at some point studied the mandolin in Chicago with one Signor Salvatore Tomaso, who seems to have been a rather active mandolinist in the Chicago area, so it makes sense that he would have picked up his pimped-out mandolin there.

    Thanks again.

    -John.
    Ah! must --
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  9. #9
    Professional History Nerd John Zimm's Avatar
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    Here's another picture of Hjalmar with his crew of mandolinists, from the 1901 Badger, the student yearbook printed in 1900 (the year given in the title is that of the Junior class that produced the book, hence the odd numbering).





    Ah! must --
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    Registered User Plamen Ivanov's Avatar
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    There is a great challenge in finding out things like this! Revealing a piece of mando history is always a thrill! Good job!

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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Given my tenure as a (gulp) professor at another large midwestern university, it is hard to imagine all these schools having mandolin clubs. And the consistently dapper attire turned out for their photos. Was I born too late? Now unfortunately we squabble about football, but I would prefer a solid plectrum-based rivalry with Madison, WI or that school from the city that Eugene lives in. The name eludes me.....

    Mick
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    Better start saving for your Orville Suit. High style doesn't come cheap.

  13. #13
    Professional History Nerd John Zimm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (brunello97 @ Feb. 21 2008, 00:02)
    Given my tenure as a (gulp) professor at another large midwestern university, it is hard to imagine all these schools having mandolin clubs. And the consistently dapper attire turned out for their photos. Was I born too late? #Now unfortunately we squabble about football, but I would prefer a solid plectrum-based rivalry with Madison, WI or that school from the city that Eugene lives in. #The name eludes me.....

    Mick
    It is interesting to see athletics slowly taking over the spotlight when in the mid to late 19th century literary, dramatic and musical clubs were the more popular student activities. At the University of Wisconsin, musical clubs and athletics seemed to have their start in the same era, the late 1870s to the early 1890s, around the time that the university split into separate colleges and allowed students to take elective courses. One text suggests that the rise of athletics and music was possibly: "a result of the larger number of students, who, with their increasingly diversified interests, found a common denominator in such relatively simple things as dancing and football."(Merle Curti & Vernon Carstensen, The University of Wisconsin: A History, volume 1, p. 659).

    -John.
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  14. #14
    Professional History Nerd John Zimm's Avatar
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    Sorta-kinda along this vein. #

    Attached is a news article from the Chicago Daily Tribune, May 30, 1880, discussing the infamous Spanish Students who came to Chicago in the spring of 1880. #I thought this was interesting-the author states there were 9 mandolins in the group, although, unless I'm mistaken, they were probably bandurrias. #Correct me if I'm wrong. #

    I also found this foray into the Midwest interesting. #I don't recall reading about this trip in Hambly's dissertation. #Of course, now that papers are digitized and searchable, this information is easier to come by.

    -John.
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Speaking of the Spanish Students, here is a brief review form the NY Times of February 16, 1880. Once again the instruments are called mandolins.

    I wonder if they were correctly identified as bandurrias would that have changed the course of history. The turn of the century parlor craze on bandurria, etc. I know, I know... Bill Monroe finding a bandurria in a barber shop...
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    Jim

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    At a time when the Oscars are taking place...Jim Garber must surely deserve the award for "best performance by a mandolin detective"

    Jim.. could you parcel up some of your research skills and send them to be so I can ....implant.

    Great work
    best wishes
    Ian

  17. #17
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Ian:
    I heartily invite you to my Mandolin Detective and Beverage-Tasting Workshop to be held in the place of your choosing and at the time of your convenience. I think that others -- certainly Martin, Eugene, Ralf and Alex -- are certainly of the same caliber and most of the members of the loyal order of the bowl are certainly in the running.
    Jim

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    Ah, your too modest Jim, but LOB (Loyal Order of the Bowl)is an interesting concept and if nothing else the Annual LOB awards might bring us all together for what of course would be... a red carpet event. I've often wondered, with all the knowledge and photos etc that the members of LOB possess, how many pages "our" encycolpedia of the bowlback would run to.... thousands probably.

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    Mandolin tragic Graham McDonald's Avatar
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    For a very interesting and useful picture of the mandolin culture in late 19th century American universities have a look at Scott Hambly's 1977 PhD thesis "Mandolins in the United States Since 1880: An industrial and sociocultural history of form". I don't think it is available online, but can be purchased from a thesis reprint facility, but I can't remember where I got it from. Google can be your friend here 8-)

    cheers

    graham




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    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Here is a link to Scott's dissertation, which has been referenced here from time to time:

    http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink....1&cfc=1

    It is for sale through this 'dissertation publishing' service. There is a preview of the first couple dozen pages available, including the TOC. It looks quite interesting and at $41 might be worth the purchase. I wish it were available bound from a publisher as well.

    Mick
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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    There is also Paul Ruppa's 1988 thesis, The Mandolin in America after 1880 and The History of Mandolin Orchestras in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I think I got a copy directly from Paul.
    Jim

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    Quote Originally Posted by (brunello97 @ Feb. 21 2008, 00:02)
    ...or that school from the city that Eugene lives in. #The name eludes me.....
    Me too, but it does involve "The..."

  23. #23
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: What make of mandolin is this man holding?

    Just to revive this thread from over a year ago. I wondered if anyone ever downloaded this thesis. I don't recall ever looking at it closely but it has some interesting tidbits in it. Price is $36 for a pdf and it does look like it is available as a bound editon as well (tho more pricey).

    I might go for the pdf, possibly.

    PDF (web download) $36.00 N/A (web download)
    Unbound Paper Copy (courier mail) $43.00 3-5 business days (courier mail)
    Softcover Paper Copy $58.00 Up to 3 weeks
    Hardcover Paper Copy $74.00 Up to 3 weeks
    35mm Roll Microfilm $50.00 Up to 3 weeks
    Microfiche (for titles published from 1976 forward) $50.00 Up to 3 weeks
    Jim

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  24. #24
    Registered User Neil Gladd's Avatar
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    Default Re: What make of mandolin is this man holding?

    I got the softbound copy a couple decades ago, when it was cheaper. I haven't looked at it for quite a while...

  25. #25
    Registered User Bruce Clausen's Avatar
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    Default Re: What make of mandolin is this man holding?

    I missed this thread the first time around. The roster of the U. W. Music dept. for 1901 is very interesting: an organist, three pianists, two voice teachers, violin, 'cello, harp, plus teachers for guitar, mandolin and banjo. It looks like they taught the instruments local people wanted to learn. This predates that model for university music programs in which the full symphony orchestra (or the marching band if it's a football school) forms the core, and fretted instruments are not to be brought into the music building under any circumstances. This was the norm from what?, World War I?, to the 1970s or '80s, when guitar at least began creeping in. The university here began to offer guitar about 1973, and was considered very progressive. Still no mandolin.

    BC

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