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An early pioneer of the Autoharp, Charles Zimmermann
of Philadelphia, developed the instrument in 1882 and
declared it the ‘best work which a human being has so
far achieved on earth!’ He took the zither, an
instrument that he had known from his German
childhood, and modified it by placing chord bars
over the strings.

After its decline in the late 1890s, the Autoharp
regained popularity during the 1920s as an
Appalachian folk instrument. Today they come in
a variety of models with various string lengths and
chord-bars.

The Autoharp is a member of the zither family. It was invented during the early 1880s and soon afterwards became a popular parlour instrument both in the United States and throughout northern Europe.