Over the last thirty years, a notable interest has arisen in searching world-wide for the origins of the banjo, with a great deal of research by ethnomusicologists, cultural anthropologists, and archeologists to map the development of the drumhead lute family of instruments. It turns out, yes it does, that the five string banjo goes much farther back in time than poor Joel Walker Sweeney! The Banjo Newlsetter was able, some twenty years ago, to convince the leading world wide authority on the history of the banjo, the much respected International Institute for Banjo Research, to share some selected pieces of evidence from its extensive archives.