Flat Pick

[Michael Randolph]

Is the use of a flat pick mentioned in any of the banjo tutors or references from the 19th century?

[Joel H.]

Not any of the tutors I have access to. Mandolin players used them,
but did not become largely popular until the 1890s. I am interested
in the use of plectrums on guitar. My research leeds me to believe
that they may have come about from the tenor banjo of the late 1910s
+. I seem to remember reading a letter in the Stewart's Journal from
the 1890s where someone wrote about using a zither ring (modern term=
thumb pick) on a guitar and Stewart, in his typical way, blasted
him.

I understand the supposed need for volume, but I just can't wrap my
mind around changing a polyphonic instrument into monophonic, one
would lose all those notes for accompaniment.