Four String Banjo Museum

JBM: How did the idea for the National Four String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum come about?

BH: In 1996 Don Coffin, who owns a restaurant in Guthrie, OK and is also a member of the Logan County Historical Society pointed out a building the society owned and asked what could be done with it. I said "Why don't we have a museum for the banjo" and he said that's a great idea. After looking at the building we decided that the building was not in very good shape and that it would take too much money to refurbish it. During this time I had been making inquires around the country to see if there was any interest in this project. One of the phone calls I made was to Johnny Baier. We talked about it a little bit and he thought it would be a good idea.
When it become evident that the cost of the renovation was too expensive I put the idea for a museum in the back of my mind. A year later I received a call from Johnny Baier out of the blue. He said, "How's the museum coming?". I said "Well it's not because of the cost to restore the building". Johnny replied, "The reason I'm asking is that there is a collector out there that has one of the best collections of four string banjos and is wanting to donate it to a museum and I mentioned your museum".

I told Johnny that there isn't a museum. Johnny said "If we can get the banjos to Guthrie could a museum be put together?".
    Over the next few weeks I talked with some people in Guthrie to see if this is something we could do. During the two year period since the idea had come about I had purchased a building in Guthrie. I decided that if we could raise enough money to improve the upper floor of the building I would rent it to the museum for $1 a year. Things started rolling and a gentleman by the name of Jack Canine flew into Guthrie to meet with a group to see if the museum could be put together.
    Mike Bruce, who is a professional museum operator in Guthrie, said he would volunteer time to this project. We felt with his knowledge that we could put this together.
    We talked with Jack and he kept his cards close to the vest because he was also dealing with the Henry Ford Museum, The Smithsonian Institute and the National Shrine To Music Museum.

JBM: That's some pretty good competition you were competing with.

BH: Yes, and especially for a museum that was non- existent at the time. It was just an idea at the time.

    We sat down with Jack and told him how we might be able to put this together and he said "Lets go see this space you've got".   That was the scariest moment for me because that place was a wreck as well as difficult to get to. Jack is a man of vision and understood what we were talking about and said "That might work".
    Later Jack went to lunch with me and I'll never forget this question, he asked "Brady why should I bring this here to Guthrie instead of taking it to The Henry Ford Museum or The Smithsonian?". I looked him in the eye and I said, "You know in your heart your banjo crazy and so am I". I then told him that this would be a place for banjos, about banjos and for banjo players. It wouldn't be an ancillary item like a model "T" ford or an exhibit at the Smithsonian that is brought out once every twenty years.
    A few months later Jack calls and said that he would like to come to Guthrie to see the show there and then have me, Don Coffin and our wives come to Indiana and he would show us around. He flew down picked us up and over that weekend he had a big get together in his living room. There were about 30 or 40 banjo players and he even flew in Sandy Riner. He announced at that meeting that he was going to give his banjos to our museum .