The 20th Annual Banjo Gathering was held in Alexandria, Virginia. 

Since 1998, the Gathering has been the platform for sharing new scholarship and findings on the banjo as material culture between banjo collectors, researchers, instrument builders, and musicians. The Gathering’s signature activities include formal presentations and a marketplace for attendees to inspect, buy, sell, and trade instruments and ephemera from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

PROGRAM

Thursday, November 2nd

10:00am-2:00 pm

Early Bird Activity: Banjo Tour of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress (FULL)

6:00-6:45 pm

Welcome to the Gathering! Introductions. 

7:00-7:45 pm

Bania, Panja, Creole Culture: An examination of two early banjos, a reinterpretation of the Old Plantation painting, and a secret history of the word ‘banjo,' by Kristina Gaddy and Pete Ross

8:00-8:45pm

"Searching for Banjo Ancestors Within Washington's Vaults, by Bob Carlin

Friday, November 3rd

8:00-11:00am

Curator-guided tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)

11:00am-Noon

LUNCH

12:30-2:30pm

Banjo tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH)

3:00-7:00pm

Free time, Dinner

7:00-7:15pm

Banjo Project Update with Marc Fields 

7:30-8:15pm

Northeast Ohio Banjo Collecting Adventures, by Bob Smakula

8:30-9:15pm

Early Banjo Recordings on Period Machines, by Christian Stanfield

Saturday, November 4th

9:00-9:45am

The Strychnine Banjo-Jake Wallace, Charley Rhoades, and the Days of '49, by Chris Bayer

10:00-10:45am

 Golden Age of the Tenor Banjo, by Michael Wright

11:00-11:45am

A Field Guide to Gretsch Metallic Rim Banjos 1928-1964, by John Hoft

Noon-2:00pm

LUNCH

2:00-2:45pm

Period Boston Banjo Factories, by Shawn McSweeny

3:00-3:45pm

Institutionalizing the Banjo: Acquisitions, Access, and Exhibitions, by Scott Odell and Greg Adams

4:00-4:45pm

Banjo Rim Production: A Modern Builder's Take on Historical Rim Manufacturing, by Patrick Heavner 

5:00-7:00pm

DINNER

7:00-7:45pm

An Illustrated History of the Banjo in Britain (1850-1900), by Bob Sayers 

8:00-8:45pm

Modern Building with a Traditional Mind, by Will Seeders Mosheim and Richard Newman 

Sunday, November 5th

Clean up and Sunday brunch in suburban Maryland (details to be provided at Gathering). 

​***Time for Networking, Trading, and Jamming
Throughout the day and evening, there will be time between presentations for conversation and jamming, as well as viewing, trading, or purchasing banjos, other instruments, and banjo-related ephemera. ​