Chickering and Sons Square Piano, c. mid-1800s

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Date

1874

Description

This is a square piano that was in Cherry Hill's family parlor during the Victorian Era. The piano was bought for Harriet Elmendorf “Hattie” Gould when she was a child. She studied playing the piano at a boarding school in Cincinnati when she was 9 years old. William James Knapp played the piano as well. He and Hattie shared sheet music, and sometimes played together in the family parlor, for the rest of the household. James was the grandson of Dinah Jackson, the last woman who was enslaved at Cherry Hill. James was the great-grandchild of Dinah Jackson, the last person who was enslaved at Cherry Hill. After his mother died in 1854, James became a ward in Richard Van Rensselaer’s household. They lived on State Street in Albany, N.Y. James worked as a butler for the family. Throughout his life, James also worked as a musician, a sales clerk at Hideley’s Music Store, a hospital porter and a nurse. James lived at Cherry Hill for about sixteen months between 1880 and 1884. James played the violin, piano, flute, and more instruments. Today, the piano is in Historic Cherry Hill's North Hall. This item was added as part of the Diversity and Collaborative Knowledge Program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Type

Artifact

Region

Capital District

Era

Expansion and Reform, Civil War and Reconstruction, Industrialization

Topic

Community, Labor

Repository

Historic Cherry Hill

Identifier

248A

Source

Historic Cherry Hill

Rights

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