News + Blog

Guitars, mandolins and the occasional banjo were popular with music students at St. Mary's Academy (Portland, OR) in 1893. (Photo from the online version of The Oregonian: Oregon Live. A big THANKS to Michael Tognetti for spotting it!) (received 4/2009)

Carte de visite of an unknown boy holding a mandolin. Note the studio was in Milwaukee. Any of you Milwaukee folks recognize him? (received 7/2009)

This is the original Dayton Mandolin Orchestra, circa 1910. Charles B. Rauch, the first Dayton Mandolin Orchestra director, also owned and operated the Dayton Instrument Co. where he made Dayton mandolins. His shop is gone now and we know very little about him after...

Erich O. Legner (bottom row, 3rd from left) Erich Fred Legner, Professor Emeritus, University of California (received 12/2011)

This is a rare Clifford-Essex Bass Mandolin (mandobass). In 1965, I was playing upright bass with a folk group called "The County Set". I went to John Alvey Turner's shop with the banjo player to buy some banjo strings. While we were there we started chatting and Max...

Erich O. Legner (bottom row, 3rd from right)