Banjo Museum page 2

JBM: That must have been very exciting!

BH: It was tremendously exciting. When he asked us to go up there I wasn't sure for what purpose he had asked us and I didn't know what this was going to be all about.

JBM: What was the reason that Jack decided to give away his collection at this point in his life?

BH: I think you need to ask Jack that but I think he has a real desire to see them displayed as works of art and artifacts of American history. Jack compares them to the Egyptian Pyramids and the artifacts that have left Egypt. He does not want to see banjos leave our country. So many of the best instruments are now in Japan and Europe. We want to make sure that we have a good representation of banjos here in this country so that we can study, learn about them and preserve the musical heritage of the four string banjo.

JBM: How many banjos are in the collection.?

BH: Roughly about Sixty. Currently about half of the collection is on display.

JBM: What was the next step for funding the Museum?

BH: We announced at the MABE festival the formation of the new museum and the response from the banjo community was overwhelming. We figured that we would need a large sum of money to refurbish the building and I can't remember the exact number but I think it was around $30,000. We were able to raise the money over the next three months thanks to the contributions made by banjo players. We thought we might be able to get some institutional money but we didn't except from some of the local banks.
I think banjo players realize the importance of preserving the banjo now while there are still people alive that have knowledge that can be shared with others. Unless we do things that can preserve it the banjo can easily be lost in the next ten to fifteen years.

JBM: Did the Hall of Fame idea come later.

BH: We wanted to something that would broaden the aspect of the museum other than just a museum for Jack's collection. Part of this preservation would be honoring those people that played it, promoted it, taught it and manufactured it. We thought this would be a good ancillary than just showing instruments.

We hope the museum doesn't end with just Jack's collection. We hope that others will want to donate instruments to the museum as a charitable donation. We hope we can expand the collection. As people pass on from this world and there are no other family members that are interested in playing the banjo we hope that they will consider donating those instruments.

JBM: If someone wanted to visit the museum how would they find out when it is open?

BH: We are open by appointment. If they will call us we will set up a time. Our next big goal is to be open on a regular basis at least 30 or 40 hours a week. We have tried to do it with volunteers but we don't have anyone to coordinate it on a full time basis. That's our next step, to get a full time or part time employee. However the board is reluctant to get that person until we can get a substantial amount of money in the bank where we can guarantee their salary.
When we get that person we feel that person can coordinate some fund raising activities to sustain the museum.

JBM: Have you looked for any grant money yet?