05_Kazoo_Museum_Beaufort_SC_6588_(12385969035)

The Kazoo Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of the

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifi ...

, located in

Beaufort, South Carolina Beaufort ( , a different pronunciation from that used by the city with the same name in North Carolina) is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South ...

. The museum houses one of the largest collections of

s in the world. Originally established in 2007 in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, The Kazoo Museum opened in its current location in Beaufort on October 6, 2010. The museum is located in the Kazoobie Kazoos Factory and features a collection of kazoos, kazoo recordings and kazoo

memorabilia A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

History

Kazoobie Kazoos

Kazoobie Kazoos is one of the world’s largest distributors of kazoos, founded by Rick Hubbard and Gayle Andrus in 1997 as an

Internet retailer The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

of kazoos. Previously based in

Hilton Head Island Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of C ...

and in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, the company returned to

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

in 2009 and settled in co-owner Steven Murray's home town of Beaufort. In this location, Kazoobie expanded into a warehouse and showroom and in 2010 added a gift shop and became home to The Kazoo Museum.

Museum founding

A forerunner of The Kazoo Museum was created by television personality and kazoo enthusiast

Boaz Frankel Boaz Frankel (born Portland, Oregon, 24 May 1982) is an American television personality who hosted and co-created the television show ''Clips & Quips'' and created the video series ''The Un-Road Trip'', slated to become a television series on Halo ...

in 2007, located in

. From there the collection moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

in 2008, where it was not available for public viewing, except via The Kazoo Museum's website. At this time the collection comprised approximately 100 kazoos, including some of the first kazoos to be manufactured, and various pieces of memorabilia including books, patents, sheet music and records. By 2010 the collection had expanded to around 200 pieces. Upon the invitation of the Kazoobie Kazoos factory, the museum took up residence in Beaufort and officially opened to the public at that location on October 6, 2010. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Kazoobie Kazoos on the opening day of The Kazoo Museum, attended by local people, curator Boaz Frankel and the owners of Kazoobie Kazoos.

Collection

Museum visitors can learn about the history of the kazoo, from its invention in the 1840s through to the present day at the museum and can tour the working factory to see modern production techniques. The museum's collection is made up of nearly 200 kazoo-related items, making it one of the world's largest private kazoo collections. All items are kept in glass cases in a dedicated building at the Kazoobie Kazoos factory. Kazoos in the collection include one used in the television program ''

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from Se ...

'', kazoos shaped like famous cartoon characters, electric kazoos and kazoos that are over 100 years old. In addition, the museum features an old press used to make kazoo parts, kazoo music sheets and various pieces of memorabilia.

Gallery

File:08 Kazoo Museum Beaufort SC 6591 (12386452764).jpg File:09 Kazoo Museum Beaufort SC 6592 (12386165653).jpg File:05 Kazoo Museum Beaufort SC 6588 (12385969035).jpg

References

External links

*
Kazoobie KazoosBeaufort Chamber of Commerce video of The Kazoo Museum opening
{{authority control Musical instrument museums in the United States Museums in Beaufort County, South Carolina Buildings and structures in Beaufort, South Carolina