Piano rolls are spools of perforated paper (or thin film) programmed with music and designed to be played on a mechanically-operated piano, more commonly called a player piano. Player pianos as popular entertainment reached their heyday in the 1920s, although both player pianos and piano rolls can be found today-- and at least one company, QRS Music, continues to manufacture music rolls. The two music rolls in this small collection were both manufactured by Play-Rite Music Rolls, Inc. in the late 1970s and early 1980s, although the songs themselves date back to the 1930s.

A player piano is a mechanically operated piano, especially a pedal-operated or motor-driven piano using pneumatic suction to move the keys in correspondence to the perforations on a turning piano roll. [American Heritage Dictionary].

1 Linear Feet 1 banker's box containing three piano roll boxes

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