About the Exhibition and Related Programs
The exhibition "From Frying Pan to Flying V: The Rise of the Electric Guitar" was on display from November 1996 through October 1997 at the National Museum of American History. It was produced by the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, in association with The Chinery Collection.
Many of the guitars displayed in the exhibition were from The Chinery Collection in Toms River, New Jersey. The collection, now sold, was originally established to identify and preserve instruments that are significant to the history of the guitar in America.
The exhibition was presented in conjunction with the with the 1996 programming series "Electrified, Amplified, and Deified: The Electric Guitar, Its Makers, and Its Players," the second in the Lemelson Center's annual series on New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation.
Credits
This exhibition was a collective effort by staff of the National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Institution. Historical exhibitions are complex undertakings, and the history they present is an interpretation of historical evidence informed by knowledge and experience.
Exhibition Curators
Monica Smith and Gary Sturm
1996 Web Site Design and Production:
Rodney J. van Zyl
2007 Revised Web Site Design:
Benjamin Bloom
Special thanks to:
The Chinery Collection, the Country Music Hall of Fame, John Peden, Rickenbacker International Corporation, Richard R. Smith, the Division of Cultural History at the National Museum of American History, and contributing authors Marcia Daft and Charlie McGovern.