Violin

Date1898

Place MadeOttumwa, Iowa, United States, North America

ModelStainer / New Model, High Grade

Serial No.106

SignedPrinted paper label with date and serial number written in ink: NEW MODEL, HIGH GRADE VIOLIN / Made by C. M. WOOLWORTH, / OTTUMWA, IOWA, U. S. A. / 1898 [on dotted line]No. 106 [on dotted line]
An earlier, wider label was removed before the present one was applied. The present label is consistent with the ones in the other NMM Woolworth violins, as is the craftsmanship.
Markingsnone
DescriptionCharles M. Woolworth was born in Deerfield, Oneida County, New York in 1848, son of the harness maker Solomon Woolworth (1822, Jefferson, New York-1871, Chicago) and Abigail Pierce Rowell (1826, Waterville, New York - 1863, Waterville). He had moved to Iowa by 1874, when his son Lee A. Woolworth was born. In the 1880 Census, C. M.Woolworth is listed as a carriage and wagon maker in Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa. His son Lee A. Woolworth died on November 7, 1901, and was known in the Ottumwa area as a musician and composer. His “Company G, I. N. G.” [Iowa National Guard] March was published by Barnhouse in 1902. All Woolworth violins at the National Music Museum: NMM 10,286 made in 1898, No. 105; NMM 10,077 made in 1898, No. 106; NMM 10,290 made in 1902, No. 122; and NMM 4860 made in 1914, No. 125.

Top: one-piece, quarter-cut spruce: wide grain
Back: two-piece, slab-cut maple: bird's-eye figure; triangular button; small rectangular patches along center joint
Ribs: slab-cut maple: bird's eye figure
Head and neck: maple: plain; scroll volutes deeply scooped; holes centrally drilled in neck under fingerboard 11 mm from inside of pegbox, and 18 mm from bottom end of neck
Arching: high and full
Edging: sharply and deeply scooped
Purfling: continues under fingerboard
Varnish: light brown
Fingerboard: ebony; beveled end
Tailpiece: ebony
Tailgut: multiple strands of copper wire
Pegs: four ebony, two with mother-of-pearl eyes
Saddle: ebony; triangular bottom end, the ribs cut away to fit
Endpin: ebony with mother-of-pearl eye
Linings: spruce, underlap corner blocks
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: integral with neck
DimensionsTotal violin length: 589 mm
Back length: 358 mm
Upper bout width: 169 mm
Center bout width: 105 mm
Lower bout width: 210 mm
Upper rib height: 27-28 mm
Center rib height: 27-28 mm
Lower rib height: 28-29 mm
Stop length: 197 mm
Vibrating string length: 325 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 128 mm

Credit LineArne B. Larson Estate

Object number10077

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