Quiz:

[Jan Bloom]

What part (city) of New England do banjos and canoes have in common? Clue: 1890s

 

[Jan Bloom]

Answer

Boston, Mass by 1899/1900 was the center of the banjo world and well on its way to being a center of canoe activity with the Charles River scene. Two of the big name banjo companies in Boston at that time were the Coles Company with their famous Coles Eclipse models and the Fairbanks Company with their Electric Models. In 1901 the Fairbanks Company introduced the Whyte Layde and in 1909 the Tube-A-Phone. Somewhere there has to be a postacard of some guy serenading his lady with a banjo while in a canoe. Banjo was the HOT instrument of the day.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

And then there's that movie, with the guys in the canoe and the dueling banjos...

 

[Jan Bloom]

That was in W VA, the New River Gorge, and it was Gibson Banjo made in Kalamazoo. Gibson had nothing to do with early banjo history and was not well known or respected for banjos until 1947 when bluegrass was invented and recorded by Bill Monroe with the help of Earl Scruggs.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Found one with a boat...

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Here's a canoe/banjo picture from eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Post-Card-Coupl...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ef2addccb

Very interesting information, Jan!

 

[Jan Bloom]

Is that a Morris in the post card?

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Nope, that's not a Morris--- appears to be "an artist's rendering of a canoe". You'll see birch barks with those high, pointy stems. I'll attach a Morris courting canoe postcard picture.

 

[Benson Gray]

Somewhere there has to be a postacard of some guy serenading his lady with a banjo while in a canoe. Banjo was the HOT instrument of the day.

It is interesting that I have just searched through about forty old Charles River area canoeing postcards and none of them show any musical instruments.

Benson

 

[woodenkayakguy]

It is interesting that I have just searched through about forty old Charles River area canoeing postcards and none of them show any musical instruments.

Benson

quoting Kathryn "Here's a canoe/banjo picture from eBay:"

http://cgi.ebay.com/Post-Card-Couple...item3ef2addccb

 

[Dan Miller]

Here's a photo of a banjo on the Charles...

While a banjo would make a fine paddle, the usual style is still in use in 1935...

 

[Greg Nolan]

musical instrument

Not a courting canoe, but a canoe used for courting, with a musical instrument -- the cover of the 1917 B. N. Morris catalogue