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Viola

Date1889

Place MadeNew Ulm, Minnesota, United States, North America

Serial No.none

SignedSee original catalog sheet
Written in pen on inside of back and overwritten in pencil: 1889 / Fr. Heers / New Ulm, Minn.
[André Larson notes (8/21/03) that the “New Ulm, Minn.” and “1889” may have been written by his father, but the “Fr. Heers” is not in his father’s writing. There are indented lines below all words except “Minn.”, traced in pencil]
MarkingsPencil line on inside of top and on bassbar, bass side, at f-hole notch position
DescriptionFrederick Heers first appears in the Minnesota Census in 1860, living in New Ulm Township, Brown County. In 1870, he is located in nearby Cottonwood Township, his occupation listed as a carpenter, born ca. 1828 in Hanover, married to Dora, born ca. 1840 also in Hanover, with children Ernst, born in Minnesota ca. 1860, and Charles, born ca. 1862. In 1880 he is listed in New Ulm City under the name “Fritz,” a diminutive of Frederick, with the occupation of a joiner. His son Charles is an apprentice joiner, and Ernst is a clerk in a store. There are other men with the surname Heers listed in the 1870 and 1880 Censuses as born in Hanover, Prussia, and Germany between ca. 1826 and ca. 1847, and it is possible that Frederick Heers had relatives who also immigrated to the United States. These men include Henry Heers (b. in Hanover ca. 1830) working as a cabinet maker in Des Moines, Iowa in 1870, William Heers (b. ca. 1839 in Prussia (1870), Hanover (1880)) working as a shoemaker in Des Moines in 1870 and 1880, William Heers (b. ca. 1828 in Hanover (1870) Austria (1880)) working as a farmer in Cottonwood, Minnesota in 1870 and 1880, Carl Heers (b. ca. 1832 in Hanover) working as a traveling agent in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1870 and a collector for a newspaper in 1880, Henry Heers (b. ca. 1847 in Prussia) working as a farm laborer in Allen, Ohio in 1870, C. F. Heers (b. ca. 1839 in Germany) working as a laborer in Denver, Colorado in 1880, George Heers (b. ca. 1844 in Germany) working as a cabinet maker in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1880.
Frederick Heers is not documented in Eric Wenberg’s books. See information on German-Bohemians in the New Ulm area, in file. Though they lived among German Bohemians, the Heers family was Prussian. Carmen Langel of the National Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa mentioned that Czechs, German Bohemians, and Germans tended to live near one another because of the common German language among them, even if they were of different ethnicities. (Telephone conversation 2/13/04)

Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: medium grain broadening toward the flanks; small dowel hole through top into bottom block on treble side of center joint
Back: two-piece, quarter-cut maple: very narrow curl descending very slightly from the center joint; small button; large maple dowel through button into neck heel on bass side of center joint
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: very narrow curl
Head and neck: maple: prominent, very narrow curl; pegbox with shoulders; hole of 10 mm diameter cut in pegbox behind D peg; scroll and pegbox chamfers painted black
Edging: prominent edges; chamfers painted black
Purfling: light outside strips; outside strips significantly faded on back
Varnish: light orange-brown
Fingerboard: ebony; beveled; crudely fit, probably later
Nut: ebony; replacement installed but not fitted
Tailpiece: none on viola: see accessories
Pegs: four ebony with mother-of-pearl eyes
Saddle: ebony; set into top; finished with same varnish as body
Endpin: missing
F-holes: inside edges stained black
Linings: spruce; extend fully over corner blocks
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: spruce; later
Bottom block: spruce; small; upper and lower edges chamfered at center of joint with top and back
DimensionsTotal viola length: 640 mm
Back length: 389 mm
Upper bout width: 183 mm
Center bout width: 119 mm
Lower bout width: 230 mm
Upper rib height: 29-31 mm
Center rib height: 31-32 mm
Lower rib height: 32 mm
Stop length: 215 mm
Vibrating string length: 359 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 144 mm
ProvenanceWritten in pen on inside of back and overwritten in pencil: 1889 / Fr. Heers / New Ulm, Minn. [André Larson notes (8/21/03) that the “New Ulm, Minn.” and “1889” may have been written by his father, but the “Fr. Heers” is not in his father’s writing. There are indented lines below all words except “Minn.”, traced in pencil]

Credit LineArne B. Larson Estate

Object number04869

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