American Banjo Museum

The American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City is a nationally focused museum devoted to the history, craftsmanship and music of the banjo. Its collection traces the instrument from early African and African American roots through nineteenth-century popular entertainment, classic banjo, jazz-age tenor and plectrum styles, bluegrass and modern performers. One of the museum's strengths is the variety of instruments on display. Elaborately decorated banjos from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries demonstrate how seriously manufacturers and performers treated the instrument during periods when it occupied a far larger place in American popular culture than many people realize today. Exhibits also address notable players, builders and musical styles. The museum is especially useful for correcting the idea that the banjo belongs only to bluegrass. Its history crosses racial, regional and genre boundaries and reflects complicated parts of American music history, including minstrelsy as well as later jazz and country traditions. Even visitors who are not musicians can appreciate the craftsmanship of the instruments and the way the collection follows changing American tastes over more than a century.