Eli Jackson: "The Dirty Handed Engineer"
Introduction/Biography
Documentation Background
Genre
Tradition
Creativity
Process/Performance
Community
Meaning/Conclusion
Eli Jackson playing one of his banjos, built from a Cadillac hubcap
A self-taught engineer, Eli Jackson's formally trained engineer colleagues called him "the dirty handed engineer" because he was always working with his hands. Over the years, they have called Eli for help on projects with which they were having trouble. For nearly 20 years he designed metal sofa frames for motor homes, and designed musical instruments as a hobby.
Though he was a resident of Muncie, Indiana for most of his life, Eli spent his childhood in southeastern Kentucky in what was to become Jackson State Park. Living without electricity, car, or radio, his family had to walk eight miles to get to town.
When designing his musical instruments, Eli often used whatever he had at hand. In the audio file below, listen to Eli talk about his Cadillac hubcap banjo (this is an .mp3 audio file).
Eli Jackson died in the autumn of 2008.