Strong Museum Collection, 1825-1926

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Summary

Creators:
Aeolian Company, Mason & Hamlin, Amphion Piano Player Company, and Strong (History Museum)
Abstract:
The Strong Museum Collection contains piano, organ, player piano, and player organ patents in bound volumes from the Aeolian, Amphion, and Mason & Hamlin companies. These date from circa 1825 to 1926 and are organized by dates and alphabetical indexes. Also included is 1 envelope entitled 'Aeolian American Action'; undated.
Extent:
22 box(es) 22 records storage boxes (22 linear feet), including 129 bound volumes and 1 folder
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Strong Museum Collection, ARS-0190. Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

The Strong Museum Collections consists of piano, player piano, organ, and player organ patents in 129 bound volumes from the Aeolian, Amphion, and Mason & Hamlin companies. The majority of the patent volumes are from the United States Patent Office but there are a small number from the English Patent Office. The volumes date from circa 1825 to 1926, and are organized first by company, instrument and chronologically. There are also alphabetical indexes. Also included is one envelope entitled ‘Aeolian American Action’; undated, which contains an advertisement. The collection is in original order and each bound volume retains the Strong Museum call numbers in square brackets at the end of the volume title.

Biographical / historical:

The Aeolian company, founded in 1887 by William Tremaine, was a manufacturer of player organs and pianos. Mason & Hamlin, based in Haverhill, Massachusetts, is a piano manufacturer that was founded in 1854 by Henry Mason and Emmons Hamlin. The Strong is an educational museum in Rochester, New York. The museum’s name has slowly evolved from the Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum to the Strong Museum to the Strong National Museum of Play and finally The Strong.

(Source: Wikipedia, 2017-12-21)

Arrangement:

This collection is in original order and arranged into five series: Series 1: Aeolian Company, 1839-1926 Series 2: The Amphion Company, 1901-1926 Series 3: Mason & Hamlin Company, 1825-1909 Series 4: Patents Index, 1849-1913 Series 5: Patents of Player Action, etc., 1900-1908

Physical location:
Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-3076”.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Contact the Archive of Recorded Sound for assistance. Some of the bound volumes are fragile and may require special care during handling.

Terms of access:

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head Librarian, Archive of Recorded Sound, Braun Music Center, Stanford, California 94305. Consent is given on behalf of the Archive of Recorded Sound as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns.

Preferred citation:

Strong Museum Collection, ARS-0190. Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA.

Location of this collection:
Braun Music Center, 541 Lasuen Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-3076, US
Contact:
(650) 723-9312
soundarchive@stanford.edu
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