Museums and Private Collections Open to Visitors
The following listing of museums and private collections has been compiled from various sources. Although every attempt has been made to check the listings, it is strongly suggested that visitors call ahead to make sure that the museums or collections will be open. Some museums are open only during the tourist season, or only by appointment. If there are changes or corrections for this list, please click the button on the right to suggest an update.
Australia
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Tours are conducted by appointment The approximate 2 hour tour includes a theatre organ concert and also features the amazing Taj Mahal Mortier. Contact Craig Robson:
Austria
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The Kunstkammer holds some rare and very fine renaissance and early baroque automata. The collection includes a particularly comprehensive range of clavichords and Viennese fortepianos.
Address:
Maria-Theresien-Platz
Phonographs, Buckow organ Op. 53, Hupfeld Phonoliszt Violina Model B twin system, Mixturtrautonium, Organ of the Hofburgkapelle, giraffes wings pianoforte.
Address:
Mariahilfer Strasse 212
On request, we will gladly show you our work museum and introduce you to the world of mechanical musical instruments such as lyre boxes, barrel organs and metal plate players. Contact: Wolfgang Geissler
Belgium
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If you want to admire street organs, street- cafe fairground- and dance organs and all kinds of other musical instruments and enjoy the special organ sounds, then you can always contact Luc Peeters who will show you his collection with enthusiasm.Decap organs, Verbeeck organs, Bursens organs, music boxes, Mortier organ, gramophones, accordeons, jukeboxes, miniatures, orchestrions, Heesbeen organs, self made organs, pianos, honky tonky, harmonium etc.The museum also punches new organ books and sells music CDs.
Address:
Kloosterstraat 25
Musee des Instruments de Musique
"Musicus mechanicus" is the title of the collection of mechanical, electrical and electronic instruments. The showpiece is the componium, a nineteenth-century orchestrion that automatically composes an infinite variety of music! On this floor you will also find clocks and bells.
Address:
Hofberg 2 Montagne de la Cour
Museum Vleeshuis looks back on six hundred years of music and dance in the city. We immerse you in the stories of former musicians, show you how musical instruments are made, take you to the very first balls and opera performances ... and let you especially enjoy many beautiful sounds.
Address:
Vleeshouwersstraat 38
Phone: +32 (0)3 292 61 01
Canada
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Nickelodeon Museum – Currently Closed
Check website for updates. The museum is relocating to Cowichan Bay. Instruments from England. Collection includes barrel organs from the 18th and 19th centuries, cylinder music boxes, automatic pianos, organs etc from the 19th and disc music boxes, player pianos, coin pianos, phonographs, jukeboxes etc from the 20th.
Sutton Museum of Communications
Music boxes, organs, phonographs and radios.
Address:
32 Rue Principale Sud St
Czech Republic
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The exhibition is divided into parts displaying various instrumental families: visitors pass progressively through halls devoted to keyboard, string, and wind instruments. On display are instruments by important Czech makers, for example by members of the famous Špidlen family of violin makers, but one can also see a violin with intarsia decoration by the world-famous Italian maker Nicolò Amati. Separate rooms are devoted to folk instruments, mechanical instruments, and the unique collection of instruments from the 'Rožmberk Court Ensemble' of the sixteenth century. Exceptional items include a piano by Franz Xaver Christoph that was played in 1787 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during a visit to Prague, in his public concert at the Institute of Noblewomen in the 'New Town'. Items of special interest in the exhibition include glass harmonicas (a fashionable instrument during the period around 1800), a quarter-tone piano made by the August Förster fi rm in the 1930s at the instigation of Alois Hába, and a collection of instruments called 'Šediphones' made by Josef Šediva – 'two-headed' brass instruments which were a popular component of Russian military bands in the early twentieth century.
In the hall called "Music with voltage" you can see there are many ways of implementing electricity in musical instruments.
Address:
Karmelitska 2 118 00 Praha 1
The estate was owned by the Silesian family of Vrbno. They lived here to the middle of the 19th century. The last owner, Dominik, sold the whole domain in 1852 to the Hessian Elector Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hanau. The descendants of Friedrich Wilhelm and Gertrude owned the chateau and the domain until 1945, when the whole property was confiscated by the state based on the order of president Benes. Immediately after World War II the castle was used as a hospital and two different troops or the Russian Red army spent some time here. During this time great part of the castles inventory was damaged or taken as spoils of war. In the years 1956-1974 part of the castle was used as the Secondary Technical School of Mechanical Engineering. In 1974 the building was closed and completely renovated. The property had been opened for the public in stages since 1985. In 2000, the chateau was declared to be a national cultural monument, and at the present time, it is under the administration of NHI (National Heritage Institute).
Address:
Vrbnovska 22 268 01
Finland
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Mekaanisen Musiikin Museo
Music boxes, automatic pianos and orchestras, everything special and interesting, from pocket-sized instruments to the 5000 kg Goliath - an orchestra that creates 75 spiritual invisible orchestras for your ears. Here you'll hear music from Mozart to Lady Gaga and in ways you never thought you'd experience. The musical journey takes you from the 1850s to the present day.
Phone: +358 (0)50 590 9297
France
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Restaurant Auberge de la Truite containing about 10 organs which can be played during the meal.
Address:
5 Rue Grande Montreuil
Cafe Au Palais Des Orgues Moritier – Temporarily Closed
Collection of 3 large Mortier organs. In the small village of Herzeele, the organ cafe is a rare Flemish curiosity. Every Sunday afternoon, the organs start, and play tunes of the past, polka, tango, waltz, rumba ... recreating the atmosphere of the balls of the beautiful era. More than 500 pieces of music. Two of the organs are in the Rococo style. The third, dating from 1939, displays a more refined style Art Deco tandem. Review on MMD
Herzeele Organ Cafe. More info and photos
Cafe des Orgues
Range of automatic instruments from music boxes to orchestrions. Director: Patrick Desnoulez.
Address:
2 Rue de l'Hollebecque
Phone: +33 (0)3 28 49 13 13
Maison De La Musique Mecanique De Mirecourt
Collection includes a variety of orchestrions, mechanical pianos, push-ups, street organs and dance organs. This collection dedicated to mechanical instruments is managed by Maurice and his daughter Françoise, both, passionate about these instruments. The first Serinette Mirecourt organs were intended to imitate the canary birds in vogue for their repetitive vocal qualities. Music soon moved on to quadrilles, and waltzes sounded better and contributed to more fun in the living room.
Musee D’Art Forain Et De Musique Mecanique – Temporarily Closed
No information available.
Address:
6 Place Aristide Briand
Conflans-en-Jarnisy, 54800
Phone: +33 03 82 33 57 30
Collection of automatons and mechanical toys, mostly from Roullet-Decamps workshops.
Address:
Esplanade Alain Chastagnol
Musee De La Adventure Du Son
Museum of the Adventure of Sound. Unique in Europe by its public collections and its theme, the Museum of Sound Adventure presents a collection of over 1000 phonographs, radios and mechanical musical instruments.Housed in a former 17th century convent in the center of Saint Fargeau, the historic capital of Puisaye, the museum and its team offer visitors the opportunity to discover the Aventure du Son: musical instruments still in operation, the first phonographs of the from 1900 until 1960. The museum also allows the public to immerse themselves in the world of radio, from the first experiments to transistors.
Address:
Place de l'Hotel de ville
Within the Philharmonie de Paris, the Museum of Music represents a collection of more than 7,000 instruments and art objects, with almost 1,000 on exhibit in the permanent exhibition space, including national treasures and legendary instruments such as a piano belonging to Chopin and a guitar belonging to Brassens. The museum presents a history of Western music from the 17th century to today and an overview of the main musical cultures of the world.
Address:
221, avenue Jean-Jaures
Phone: +33 01 44 84 44 84
Musee De La Musique Mecanique
Director: M. Denis Bouchet. Collection of chimes, clocks and music boxes; street, dance and carousel organs; mechanical and pneumatic pianos; animated paintings and automatons; accordions and automatic violins; harmoniums, orchestras and orchestrions (replacing an orchestra!); phonographs, gramophones and jukeboxes. The nearly 900 pieces are presented in the context of their time through different rooms.
Address:
294 rue du Vieux Village
Musee Des Arts Et Metiers le CNAM
Gustave Vichy is one of the oldest manufacturers of this generation. From 1866, his clowns, magicians, musicians and acrobats with lunar faces hypnotize crowds with their graceful gestures and full of mischief. The Moon gives us a wink on the Magician's breastplate, imperturbable in its mechanical perfection. The Snake Man has the same deep and fascinating look. His body rises with perfect and timeless grace. The illusion of life extends beyond the mechanical movement, the beaded fringes linger well after the stop of the wheels.
19th-century funfairs were a social phenomenon, as important as cathedrals in the preceding centuries and television today. The fairground was the cradle of most modern forms of entertainment: theatres, music hall shows, hawkers, entertaining sports, illusionists, acrobats, jugglers, puppeteers, and many more. Embark on an unforgettable journey through our different areas. The golden rule for this immersive visit is to keep your eyes wide open while guided by our comedians. This enchanting museum will thrill both the young and the young at heart with its fairground paraphernalia and mechanised performances. One of the most memorable experiences during the tour is to ride on centenary attractions and cycle on the bicycle merry-go-round, exactly as our great-grandparents could have done in 1897. No admission without prior booking
Address:
53 Avenue des Terroirs de France
Musee Du Phonographe Et De La Musique Mecanique De Sainte Maxime Sur Mer
Be charmed by the offbeat instruments of the Gramophone and Mechanical Music Museum! This astonishing museum presents a unique collection in Europe of more than 300 music instruments. Discover the fascinating history of music boxes, gramophones, musical machines or barrel organs
Address:
Parc Saint Donat, Route du Muy
Phone: +33 04 94 96 50 52
Musee de la Lutherie et de l’Archeterie Francaises
Claude Thimote Lounge organ with 22 keys, Husson and Buthod Serinette in walnut, beech, fir. 10 keys, a row of 10 pewter pipes. Wooden cylinder. Iron register 8 notches on the right side, for the choice of tunes. Poirot Georges and Minou Emile and Cunin Charles fairground organ 36 keys-metal pins arranged under a jaw to constrain the band of perforated cardboard. Remy and Grobert, Organ with 36 keys
Address:
Cours Stanislas - BP 189
Phone: +33 (0)3 29 37 81 59
Paul Dupuy Museum of Precious Arts
The Paul Dupuy museum's watch collection is enriched with 37 watch pieces : eight clocks and twenty-nine watches.
Georges PRIN was a manufacturer of Parisian optical instruments that provided observatories in astronomical spectacles and telescopes that were then used for determining the public time. His collection is donated to the museum by his son Bernard. It includes eight clocks and twenty-nine watches, of great rarity.
Address:
13 rue de la Pleau
Phone: +33 05 31 22 95 40
Germany
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Badisches Landesmuseum, Museum Mechanischer Musik-Instrumente
Collection: Jan Brauers. Over three floors, over 500 exhibits provide a comprehensive overview of the development of self-playing musical instruments over the 350 years of music-maker history. Precious music machines such as the elephant clock, flute clocks from the Black Forest, the fairground organ "Selection", the Wurlitzer cinema orchestrion, as well as small tobacco cans and jewelery pieces with a musical work. Listening and media stations also give visitors an in-depth cultural and historical insight. Information specifically about the mechanical music museum found here
https://www.landesmuseum.de/weitere-standorte/deutsches-musikautomaten-museum/das-klingende-museumPhone: +49 (0)7251 742-652
Von Meisterwerken Der Naturwissenschaft Und Technik, Abteilung Mechanische Musik (a museum of masterpieces in science and technology) The Deutsches Museum has a large and significant collection of musical instruments. A collection of musical instruments was already included in the first concept of Oskar von Miller for the German Museum. As "technical acoustics", the department showed the implementation of the acoustic laws in instrument making and the development of the instruments from the early days to the present and thus stood for the close connection of science, technology and music in the Deutsches Museum. Today the collection comprises about 1,900 musical instruments as well as more than 4,000 program carriers for jukeboxes. It documents the development of the instruments primarily of European art music. The collection spans a wide arc from a horn of the Etruscan era to modern-day synthesizers; it only includes clamps a few centimeters in size, as well as large, several-meter-high organs. The focus is on technical and technical aspects.
For more than 160 years the collection of the German Clock Museum has existed, today it counts more than 8000 objects from all over the world. Around one thousand watches are visible to the visitors, they are taught in almost as many tours annually. The extensive watchmaking library holds a treasure trove of historical sources and company publications: a valuable basis for research. Making this inventory accessible to today's issues is the core task of the house.
Address:
Robert-Gerwig-Platz 1
Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, D-78120
Phone: +49 (0) 7723 - 920 2800
Regional history and organ building. Fairground and street organs that were built in the last century in Waldkirch and delivered throughout the world. During our guided tours the instruments of our famous organ collection are played and informative backgrounds are told. At the heart of the collection are the jukeboxes built in Waldkirch with a focus on concert of the companies Bruder and Ruth & Sohn.More info
museum info More info
Schwarzwald tourism
Fruchtkasten – Musikinstrumentenmuseum
The presentation "Our musical instruments - soundscapes with a migration background" on the second floor spans a chronological arc from Renaissance instruments to mechanical music production and reproduction in the 19th and 20th centuries. The concert hall on the ground floor welcomes visitors with a selection of particularly valuable keyboard instruments from the 17th to early 20th centuries, which are regularly played at concerts: two fortepianos, a tangential grand piano, a double grand piano by Pleyel and an original French harpsichord from the time of Louis XIV.
Phone: +49 711 89 535 111
Germanisches Nationalmuseum
No mechanical music. The department comprises one of the world’s largest collections of historical keyboard instruments, with numerous early fortepianos, predominantly of south-German and Viennese provenance. A further collection focus is formed by wind and string instruments from Nuremberg during the Holy Roman Empire, when it was a Free Imperial City.
Phone: +49 (0) 911 1331-0
Grassi Museum fur Musikinstrumente
The museum owns nearly 5000 European and non-European musical instruments, an iconographic collection, as well as a collection of historic sound storage mediums, including approximately 3500 piano rolls for player pianos and numerous graphemes. This collection includes mechanical instruments as well as playback devices such as barrel organs, musical string mechanisms, symphoniums, pneumatic players, as well as disc players utilizing the Edison system. Most of the materials were produced in the Hupfeld factory.
Address:
Johannisplatz 5 - 11
Grunderzeit Museum in Mahlsdorf
The Mahlsdorfer collection is one of the most impressive founding period collections in Germany. It consists of 17 fully furnished exhibition rooms including a mechanical music machine collection. In the basement there is a kitchen equipment and the oldest surviving Zillekneipe Berlin with Vereinszimmer and Hurenstube.
Address:
Hultschiner Damm 333
Heinz Nixdorf Museumforum
History of computer, with some mechanical music instruments.
Huttels Musikwerkeausstellung
Director: Wolfgang Huttel. Wide range of instruments from organs to orchestrions, disc and cylinder boxes to barrel organs.
Emerging from the private collection of Georg Neuner (1904-1962), the "Sound Museum" has now been home to the fourth floor of the Munich City Museum for almost 50 years. Approximately one-fifth of the nearly 6,000 musical instruments and sound objects, more than half come from non-European countries are displayed in the publicly accessible part of the collection.
Address:
Sankt-Jakobs-Platz 1
Phone: + 49- (0) 89-233-22370
Museum Mechanischer Musikinstrumente
A walk through the museum shows about 250 years of mechanical musical instruments. The smallest of the museum's objects is a music box: it measures just 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm - which is a difference to the carousel organ measuring 3.00 m × 4.00 m. Almost all instruments are ready to play, and guided tours of the museum give the visitors many different sound experiences. Britta Edelmann, MA - museum director.
Address:
Vor dem Kaiserdom 3-5,
Konigslutter am Elm, D-38154
Musikinstrumenten Museum Markneukirchen
3,200 musical instruments from all over the world can be found in the "Paulus-Schlössel", including the largest collection of Vogtland's string, plucked and wind instruments from the 17th century to the present day. The visitor also gets an insight into the variety of musical instruments from Africa, America and Asia. Old instrument workshops and an original trading office in the Gerber-Hans-Haus tell of the more than 300 years old tradition of Vogtland musical instrument making.
The German Phonomuseum St. Georgen in the Black Forest shows the development of mechanical sound recording and playback since Edison's invention of the phonograph 1877 to today. In a small extra show, the "precursors" of the phonetic technique are shown with mechanical musical instruments (flute clock, polyphonic, orchestrion, electric piano, etc.). With various phonographs, funnels, caskets, suitcases and "salon" grammophones, mechanical and electrical drives, electric pickups and their playback devices, plate changers for shellacs, the "Ur" Tefifon, jukebox, phono suitcases, the first hi-fi Stereo systems up to the high-tech turntables of the 1980s the curious will find very interesting the development history of the phono technique. Pictures, specialist literature and sound carriers complete the exhibition. Most of the exhibits are functional and are shown on guided tours. Director: M. Grieshaber.
Address:
Wallfahrtstrasse 4
Phone: +49 (0) 7722 8664-90
Siegfrieds Mechanishes Musikkabinett
About 350 self-playing musical instruments from three centuries including a Hupfeld-Violina-Phonoliszt, Weber Maesto, Welte cinema organ, Model 104 Gebr. Bruder Symphony Orchestra Organ, and Poppers Violinovo. A 45-minute tour with music. Guided tours in nine languages. Director: Siegfried Wendel.
Rudesheim am Rhein, D-65385
Staatliches Institut fur Musikforschung
The Musical Instruments Museum of the State Institute of Music Research collects musical instruments of European art music from the 16th to the 21st century. At present, the museum has around 3,500 instruments, many of which are in playable condition. A good 800 instruments can be seen in the show collection. It is in its diversity one of the most representative collections in Germany.
Address:
Ben-Gurion-Strasse
The foundation of the collection is made up of phonograms, sheet music and archives, which from about 1850 document the modern concert scene in Berlin as an expression of bourgeois life. Since 1997, the historical and mechanical musical instruments belong to this collection and also provide an insight into the 19th century Berlin musical instruments.
Address:
Am Kollnischen Park 5
Waldkircher Orgelstiftung
In our organ building hall and exhibition rooms the organ lover will find everything that makes his heart beat faster. Discover precision mechanical marvels and masterfully carved classic craftsmanship Lovingly developed didactic models let you take a look "behind the scenes" - from the elaborate mechanics to the MIDI-controlled barrel organ.
Italy
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Music boxes, hurdy,gurdies, early record players and an incredible fairground organ, all in working order.There is also a classic car, landau and various historic farm instruments
Address:
Via Guglielmo Marconi, 3
Torricella del Pizzo CR, Cremona 26040
Phonographs, gramophones and other musical devices through the development of the radio and into modern technology.
Address:
Piazzale Salvo D'Acquisto
Galleria dell’Accademia – Department of Musical Instruments
No mechanical music available. The Department of Musical Instruments of the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, dating from 1996 and inaugurated in 2001, houses the collection of antique instruments from the “Luigi Cherubini Music Conservatory. Approximately fifty instruments, collected between the mid 1600s and the early 1800s, are displayed in three rooms and come from the private collections of the Houses of the Medici and Lorraine, the Tuscan Grand Dukes.
Additional information.
Address:
Via Ricasoli, 58/60
Founder: Mr. Severi Franco. The Museum was conceived as a journey in seven rooms that traces mechanical music history. The journey takes you from the invention of mechanical music, through the different stages of its development and into its established place in society, finally showing the decline due to the appearance of the gramophone and other modern means of sound diffusion.
Address:
Via Lizzano, 1241
Museo Nazionale Degli Strumenti Musicali
This is mostly a museum of instruments, but it does have a small mechanical music display.
Address:
Piazza Santa Croce in Gerusalemmme
A collection of rare violins including those of Andrea Amati (1505c.-1577) violin Carlo IX, 1566c., Girolamo Amati (1548c.-1630) viola Stauffer, 1615, Nicolo Amati (1596-1684) violin Hammerle, 1658c., Antonio Stradivari (1644c.-1737) violin Clisbee, 1669, Giuseppe Guarneri fiulius Andreae (1666-1740) violin Quarestani, 1689, Antonio Stradivari (1644c.-1737) cello Stauffer ex Cristiani, 161700, Antonio Stradivari (1644c.-1737) violin Il Cremonese, 1715, Antonio Stradivari (1644c.-1737) violin Vesuvius, 1727, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu (1698-1744) violin Stauffer, 1734. Also violin making is a focus of the venue.
Japan
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Music boxes for sale and twice-per-day concerts presented.
Address:
11-17 Toyokawa-cho
Hakodate-shi, Hokkaido 040-0065
Take in the pleasures of the sounds and movements of everything from various orgel (music box) to Steinway player pianos, fairground organs, and mechanical dolls in a wonderful acoustic space.
Address:
1981, Kanzanjicho, Nishi-ku
Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka 431-1209
Large collection of instruments, including a Musical Carousel Automaton, Mermod Frere 6-cylinder Interchangeable, Symphonion Style 25c "Rococo", Stella 17 1/4 Inch Disk Music Box, Regina Cabinet Model Style 67, Mira Console, Alexandra Interchangeable Cylinder, Bremond Organ Celeste Cylinder, Nicole Freres Mandolin Music box, Regina Orchestral Corona No.34, Polyphone Style 42CG, Mills Viorano Virtuoso, Mortier Fairground Dance Organ, Wurlitzer Model B Orchestrion, Fotoplayer style 20, Arubro Dance Organ, phonographs
Ito-shi, Shizuoka 413-0232
Kiyosato Moeginomura Museum, Hall of Halls
Even in an era when there was no television or radio, music was a part of life. Musicians performed in opera houses, concert halls, restaurants and bars, and on street corners. In Europe and the United States, music boxes and self-playing musical instruments were produced based on various ideas and entertained people's ears. The main hall where you can experience the sounds of the good old days. Enjoy a concert with delicate music boxes and overwhelmingly powerful self-playing instruments while thinking about the wonderful ideas and techniques left behind by our predecessors for music. A special concert guided by musicians active in the world while exploring this era. Through top-notch performances and friendly narration, we convey the joy and depth of music. Listening to a live performance right in front of you gives you a sense of realism that is different from that of a theater. Also a communication talk with customers. Please enjoy the moment when you can feel art close to you. (It will be held for a limited time. Please refer to the calendar for the detailed schedule.)
Address:
407-0301 3545 Kiyosato, Takane-cho
Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture 407-0301
Kyoto Arashiyama Orgel Hall
The Kyoto Arashiyama Orgel Museum exhibits more than 150 pieces of the orgel collection, and demonstrates the main collection among them to convey the appeal of the orgel and its culture. A large part of the collection is the Guide & Jacqueline Collection, which is said to be one of the world's leading music box collections in terms of both quality and quantity, collected by Guido Reuge, the third president of the famous Swiss music box maker Reuge, and his wife Jacqueline. It contains some of the most important works in the history of music boxes, such as The World's Oldest Music Box and Napoleon's Snuffbox, and it is no exaggeration to say that these are European precious cultural heritages.
Address:
616-8375 1-38 Tateishi-cho
Sagatenryu-ji, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto-shi 616-8375
The Classic Piano Exhibition Room has a rare collection of antique pianos (fortepianos), such as the Strohm manufactured in 1793, and the Pisa Harpsichord manufactured in the 1580s. The full sweep of the development of keyboard instruments from the 16th to the 20th centuries can be viewed in one setting. Celebrated composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Chopin composed and performed on similar instruments to those assembled in the museum. Uniquely, the Min-On Music Museum's antique instruments are not just on display, but are played on an hourly basis. Visitors also hear the sounds of antique automatic reproducing pianos, various kinds of music boxes from the 19th century, and the Orchestrion mechanical organ.
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8588
Museum of Contemporary Toys
The Museum of Modern Toy Music Box Yumekan was opened on September 9, 1995 at Ushiroyama, the highest peak in Okayama Prefecture. Toys from around the world that are made in hopes of the healthy growth of children. We have an antique music box that was made over 100 years ago and has impressed people. On April 1, 2010, we moved to Yunogo Onsen in Mimasaka. Since then, it has continued as a small museum in Yunogo Onsen. Near the museum is the "Showakan" with nostalgic tin toys. There is also a "Tetsudo Model Museum" with a model railroad diorama, so please enjoy it.
Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture 707-0062
More than 200 music boxes and self-playing instruments from around the world are on display at all times, centering on the collection of the late Mr. Kiyoshi Sato, who worked to popularize music boxes. A cylinder-type music box that plays delicate sounds made with precise technology, a disc-type music box that was invented to further improve productivity and musicality, a powerful self-playing instrument Orchestrion, and a street organ that made the streets lively. You can enjoy a wide variety of exhibits. These exhibits are played by the staff (twice an hour for 10 minutes each), and you can enjoy the sounds of those days along with commentary.
Address:
325-0302 270 Hei Takaku,
Nasu-machi, Nasu-gun, Tochigi Prefecture 325-0302
Nosaka Automata Museum is unique worldwide for its collection of exceptional automata. It opened in the spring of 2000 on Sakuranamiki Street in Japan’s famous resort town of Izu-Kogen.
Address:
1283-75 Kabujiri, Yawatano,
Ito City, Shizuoka Prefecture 413-0232
This is a select shop that sells Kaimeirou brand music boxes, glasses, and accessories. The hotel has a quiet and calm atmosphere. In the corner of Yuuki Atae, one of Japan's leading doll makers, original music boxes and dioramas based on his work, Ningle, and original products only for Kaimeirou are lined up. In addition to custom-made music boxes and combination music boxes, there is also a workshop corner for making your own music boxes, where you can enjoy making music boxes.
If you want to choose a cute music box as a memory of your trip, go to the shop on the 1st floor. I want to heal my heart with a music box. If you want to choose a gift for your loved ones, head to the stylish shop on the 2nd floor. If you want to make your own one-of-a -
kind music box, go to the music box workshop on the 2nd floor. I think we can.
Address:
Mojiko Retro Kaikyo Plaza 5-1 Minatomachi, Moji Ward West Building 1F
Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture 801-0852
Rokko International Musical Box Museum
Paillard and Nicole Freres cylinder boxes, Otto & Sons capital cuff box. John Moore musical watch. Stella Orchestral Grand, Regina 27-inch changer, Symphonion Upright, Polyphon disc boxes. Organs, Gramophone and automata. This museum houses many rare automatic musical instruments such as musical boxes familiar in the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A concert is held every half hour using the instruments, giving visitors a chance to hear a special performance.
Address:
Kitarokko-4512-145
Rokkosancho, Kobe 657-0101
From the rare antique antique to the modern Sankyo music box, the world music box exhibition which you can appreciate the famous instruments along with its history. Exhibits along the transition of the music box will learn about the technology and mechanism, as well as the tone that the famous instrument plays. You can see the rare antique music box Imperator Style No.49 made in Germany. This music box is a one-piece cabinet, and it is rare that it exists in its complete form. It is characterized by sublime harmony with 4 comb teeth and song arrangement with 12 bells.
Address:
5805 Shimosuwa-cho
Suwa-gun, Nagano Prefecture 393-0000
Ukai Kawaguchi-Ko Music Forest
A theme park and museum devoted to automatic musical instruments. Its main hall displays antique music boxes, mechanical organs and other automatic musical instruments mostly from European countries. The largest of them is a Mortier Dance Organ circa 1920. The facade is of the largest class in the world, and 13 meter wide and 5 meter tall. The performance of 43 figures arranged in this organ and also on the both side walls of this building, moving harmonized with the music is so spectacle. 800 pipes to bring out the tones of flutes, trumpets and violins, accompanied with snare and bass drums, cymbals, bells and xylophone play stunning music, comparable to an orchestra organized with dozens of musicians.
Address:
3077-20 Kawaguchi
Fujikawaguchiko Town, Yamanashi 401-0304
Netherlands
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Draaiorgels Museum Helmond
Contact Theo Inniger Large collection of organs including a 112-key and 98-key Gaudin and a 90-key Mortier. As permanent exhibition, the extensive collection of stringed instruments and accordion collection of Arie Willems, who passed away in 2004, is housed in the Gaviolizaal.
Address:
Binnen Parallelweg 2
Haarlem Draaiorgel Museum
Museum features the Gavioli 89-III Lion organ. Also the Kunkels organ that has 112 keys, 14 registers and more than 800 pipes, making it the largest concert organ in Europe. A 70 key Marenghi, serial number 2457. The Black Madonna, an 84-key Mortier Orchestrion. The De Pod, a 90 key Carl FreiThe organs play each Sunday from noon - 5pm. Alternate phone +31 23 5385049
Collection includes 230 self-playing musical instruments, such as music boxes, street pianos and barrel organs. In addition, the historical objects and textile objects take young and old into the past of this region.
The self-playing musical instruments come in all shapes and sizes; from very small music boxes, automata and musical clocks to huge carillons, orchestrions, dance and street organs. All these instruments can be seen and heard in this world class collection.
The museum has a collection of automatic pianos and related objects. There are over 25.000 music rolls in the museum archive. Nearly all of them can be played on the different instruments in the museum.
Poland
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Museum of Folk Musical Instruments in Szydlowiec
Polish folk instruments, German, Austrian, Czech, Italian, French or Russian instruments. Italian and Portuguese mandolins, pear-shaped lutes, drums with "disnaissance design", charming Swiss and German music boxes, French trumpets and helicons. All of them arouse admiration and curiosity, but Polish folk instruments are the essence of Szydlowiec collections.
Address:
ul. Gen. J. Sowińskiego 2
National Museum in Poznan
No mechanical music. Around 2500 exhibits from all continents: European professional and folk instruments, non-European instruments, and musical documents, from the past and the present, the oldest dating back to the Lusatian and pre-Columbian cultures. The museum has a particularly impressive collection of plucked and bowed string instruments, keyboard instruments, wind instruments, and Polish folk instruments.
Additional informationAddress:
Al. Marcinkowskiego 9
The Municipal Museum of Zywiec – The Old Castle
No mechanical music available. The Museum's collection of folk instruments gathers over 120 objects from the region of Żywiec, acquired over the institution's eighty years of existence. Taking the pride of place are instruments making up a traditional Żywiec highlander band, that is violins and bagpipes (dudy), and shepherd instruments such as wooden folk trumpets (trombita), horns, flutes, pipes, whistles and bird call whistles.
Additional information
The State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw
No automatic music. The ground floor exhibition "From Chopin to avant-garde" includes instruments from the time of Frederic Chopin.
Phone: 22 827 76 41 ext. 230 or 231
Romania
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The Museum of Science and Technology - Stefan Procopiu contains a wide range of musical automata (musical boxes and clocks, symphonies and polyphons, mechanical pianos, pantographs and gramophones). The museum houses more than 11,000 objects, particularly important for the history of science and technology, among which are sound recording and reproduction, the history of photographic and cinematographic techniques, the evolution of communications, and the development of computers.
Address:
Piata Stefan cel Mare si Sfant nr. 1
Singapore
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Singapore Musical Box Museum
Open Monday, Wednesday-Sunday (closed Tuesdays) 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. The last admission is at 5 p.m. but the museum store stays open till 6 p.m. Hourly tours are available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission Fee: Adults $12 Singaporean Permanent Resident Students (with concession cards) $6 Senior Singaporean Permanent Residents above age 60 (with valid IDs) $6 Children 6 years and under are free.
Address:
168 Telok Ayer Street
Spain
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Barcelona Museum of Music
Museu de la Musica. The permanent exhibition comprises nearly five hundred instruments from different periods and cultures, selected from among the total of about 2,000 instruments forming the Museum’s collection, which is considered the foremost of its kind in the Iberian Peninsula. Includes gramophones, automatic zithers, phonographs, Orpheus disc box, automaton orchestra with 10 musicians and a director with arms and head movement, mechanical clocks, barrel organs, Ariston disc box
Address:
L'Auditori. Lepant 150, 2a pl.
Sweden
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FRASSES & MARIANNE’S MUSIC MUSEUM
Frasse opened the museum together with his life partner Marianne in 1981 in the shared home on Peder Morcks vag in Simrishamn. In addition to gramophones and phonographs, many other musical machines were also added, such as music boxes and sonorous positive that Frasse and Marianne occasionally took out and performed in the streets and squares. The museum was open under Frasse and Marianne's auspices until 2006. Just in time for Easter 2014, Frasses and Marianne's Music Museum was reopened at Sweden's car and motor museum Autoseum in Simrishamn .
Swedish Museum of Performing Arts
Collection of 600 mechanical music instruments, including cylinder and disc boxes, pianos, organs and a variety of other instruments. Catalog of instruments can be viewed online.
Switzerland
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The collection of musical instruments is currently over 3,000 instruments, almost all of which were made in Europe between the 16th and the 20th century. The collection is thus an ideal object of study for musicologists and anyone interested in historical performance practice.
Enesco music boxes, Hammond Organ Museum, mechanical music and organs, Mighty Wurlitzer cinema organ
Address:
Weierwiesstrasse 8
Fredy’s Mechanisches Musikmuseum
Exhibits include a Black Forest Flute Clock, Leipzig "Polyphone", which was patented in 1896, a Pianola, two reproducing concert grand pianos with "Welte-Mignon system", and a Phonoliszt-Violina model C, the only remaining example built by Hupfeld Leipzig worldwide. Also a Weber Maestro, and a DeCap dance organ.
The sound machine museum shows the entire range of mechanical musical instruments. The permanent exhibition illustrates in a cheerful way how these jukeboxes were integrated into the cultural and social life of bygone eras and how they shape and enrich our lives to this day.
Everything from cylinder music boxes, flute cabinets, puppet machines to self-playing pianos, orchestrions and phonographs can be seen. The funfair and concert organs, which can be admired in the large organ hall, are extremely impressive. Based on the corresponding epochs, the rooms are designed in the style of the Gründerzeit, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.
In the historic rooms of the Wichterheer estate in Oberhofen on Lake Thun, clocks and mechanical musical instruments of all kinds and eras are on display. From the 13th century to 1948, the medieval vineyard was privately owned by large Bernese families. The main house was built in 1518 and has essentially remained the same despite several modifications.
The Museum of Clocks and Mechanical Music is located on the ground floor and in the carefully designed basement rooms. Between thick stone walls you descend into an earlier time. Expert guides will guide you through five centuries of creative craftsmanship and make the instruments sound
Music boxes, automata, clocks, singing birds, animated pictures and gramophones as well as other accessories, tools and souvenirs of the time period. Larger pieces include a Weber "Maesto", and a "Phonolistz Violiona".
Radio Romande Organ, Oberwil, Armagni Organ, Open Organ, Alexander Harmonium (around 1850), Alphonse Mustel harmonium , circa 1923, Emmental organ 17th century Mettenbach (restored in 2010), Italian organ (17th – 19th century, attributed to Giovanni Banci, Tuscany ), Pierre Vialle Bourdon Organ, Organ Regale Regale Benno Fleig, Basel, around 1970, copy of the Basel Museum original by Caspar Humpel 1691
Address:
Rue du St-Bernard 5
Musee d’art et d’histoire de Neuchatel
25,000 diverse pieces in about thirty collections offer rarities, curiosities and prestigious objects such as the Jaquet-Droz Automata, the Ruckers Harpsichord and the Strubin Collection.
Address:
Esplanade Leopold-Robert 1
Musee d’horlogerie du Locle Chateau Des Monts
Jaquet-Droz clocks, one includes a set of flutes and musical couple who begin to play on the hour or on demand. The second clock with serinette and bird originally had a Louis XV or Louis XVI cabinet. Edouard-Constant Sandoz collection of watches and automatons.
Address:
Route des Monts 65
Musee de Musique Mecanique
Collector and passionate about musical instruments, let yourself be carried away in the magical universe of Monsieur Jean Furrer. In his cave of Ali Baba, pieces that are more than a hundred years old are restored with a lot of love and patience.
Address:
Route de Botyre 39
Museum fur Musikautomaten
The Seewen Museum of Music Automatons houses one of the world's largest and best-known collections of Swiss cylinder and disc music boxes, clocks and jewelery containing musical mechanisms and other mechanical music automatons from the past two centuries. Highlights include a Phonoliszt-Violina made in Leipzig by the Hupfeld Company, a Weber Unika from Waldkirch, near Freiburg im Breisgau, and a Decap dance organ from Antwerp with a wealth of light-hearted dance music.
Musical boxes, mechanical music, automata, music box/clock and watch-making tools and equipment. Music box workshop.
Address:
2, Rue de L'Industrie
Some 2,500 watches, automata, precious objects and portrait miniatures on enamel invite the visitor on a fabulous voyage through five centuries of Genevan, Swiss and European horological art, as well as proposing a panoramic view of Patek Philippe’s production since 1839. The museum also has a library with over 8000 publications on time and time measurement.
Address:
Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers 7
Reed-Organ & Organ Museum
Historical pipe organs
Black Forest flute clocks
A sounding museum on three floors
over 130 harmonies, organs, square pianos, organ harmonies, piano harmonies, celesta harmonies, bell harmonies, etc.
Group tours with live harmonium music
Dieter Stalder
Address:
Widmannstrasse 9a
The Museum of Clocks and Mechanical Music
The collection of mechanical musical instruments includes around one hundred objects from three centuries, from early barrel organs and music boxes to the automatic piano.
Staatsstrasse 18, Oberhofen am Thunersee CH-3653
Wunderwelt der mechanischen Musik
You will hear barrel organ music played on original historical instruments (the oldest of which dates back to 1760).
You will experience the fascination of a technique that makes whistles, reeds, strings, drums, bells and cymbals sound with amazing precision.
Guided visit by prior arrangement by telephone.
United Kingdom
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Offers a 45 minute guided visit to the workshop, a chance to see behind the scenes, witness the many of the skills needed to repair automata and enjoy demonstrations of some rare pieces in action. We receive many requests for visits to the workshop, its a unique and unforgettable experience, we will share our passion for automata whatever your level of interest. Email to arrange your visit. Availability limited. Michael & Maria Start
Address:
414 The Field of Dreams
Phone: +44 (0)7790 719 097
Bressingham Steam Museum & Gardens
Fairground organs & Dutch street organs. A unique working steam museum.
Bressingham, Norfolk IP22 2AB
The Musical Museum is home to a wonderful collection of self-playing musical instruments. From tiny music boxes to the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ in our concert hall, you can learn about the history of music reproduction, and hear an impressive array of self-playing pianos, orchestrions, pipe organs and violin players. Established by Frank Holland.
Brentford, Middlesex TW8 0BU
Cuckooland Museum Nesting In Cheshire
Learn of the variety, quality and ingenuity associated with the ancient craft of cuckoo clock making. We also have 5 fairground organs, 3 church organs and musical clocks.
Address:
The Old School, Chester Road
Tabley, Cheshire WA16 0HL
Weber pianola, Manchester seraphone, Symphonion disc box, Polyphon disc box, street organ presented as part of an exhibit on British Victorian-era life.
Wolverton, Milton Keynes MK12 5EL
The Royal College of Music Museum maintains and preserves more than 25,000 instruments, portraits, images and engravings. Highlights from the collection include the earliest known guitar in the world, the earliest stringed keyboard instrument and the best known portraits of Joseph Haydn and Farinelli. Mostly small cylinder boxes of unknown origin and a few barrel organs.
Address:
Prince Consort Road
London, Kensington SW7 2BS
Phone: +44 (0)20 7591 4346
St. Alban’s Organ Theatre Museum
A permanent playing collection of rare mechanical musical instruments, dance organs, player pianos and theatre pipe organs. Live performances are given, together with a commentary. The Organ Theatre contains a unique collection of mechanical (self-playing) musical instruments that the museum founder, Mr Charles Hart, began collecting nearly half a century ago. That magical musical atmosphere that has been lost and forgotten in today's digital age.
St. Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 5PE
Come and see the world's largest collection of steam engines and organs, hear Robert Wolfe one of the world's leading theatre organists play the mighty Wurlitzer at 12.30pm and 2pm daily, ride on fairground carousels and the gondola, enjoy “Back Stage Tours and watch silent movies.
Address:
Thursford Green, Thursford
Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 0AS
87-key Gavioli. History of Trams and life in England
Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 5DP
Amusement park with mechanical music boxes as part of historical displays. Unknown what styles and quantity of mechanical music is available to view. Call ahead.
Ifracombe, Devon EX34 9SL
United States
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This collection features all shapes, sizes and types of mechanical music instruments. Daily tours guided by docents provide an excellent overview of all the types of instruments that fall under the mechanical music umbrella.
Address:
One American Treasure Way
Collection of the late Charles Brown III, including Seeburg R pipe organ orchestra, double Mills Violano, Regina changer, Hexaphone, Multiphone and many more music boxes and pneumatic instruments. Tony Marsico, curator.
Address:
225 St. Charles Place
Apostolic Clock, Organettes, music boxes, street organs.
MBSI's Polyphon Style 44D Table Top Disc Musical Box is displayed at the farm. Many other period displays and demonstrations are available on a rotating basis. Check the museum website for details.
A working collection of 100 year old mechanical organs, including an air calliope, the Una-Fon. The Royal American Show’s Gavioli band organ, and a Wurlitzer 165 band organ also available.
Wurlitzer LX orchestrion and 150 band organ, Double Violano, Coinola Midget, Link, Seeburg G, Seeburg KT, Artizan organ, Tangley Calliope, and others. Open summers.
Address:
110 Daniel Webster Highway
DeBence Antique Music World
See and hear over 100 old-time automatic musical instruments. Band organs, music boxes, nickelodeons and player pianos. April 1-October 31, Tuesday-Saturday 11 am-4 pm. & Sunday 12:30-4 pm. CLOSED MONDAY. Adults $8, Seniors (60+) $7, High School/College Students $5, Children $3.00, Children under 3 FREE.
Address:
1261 Liberty Street
Edison National Historic Site
The home and laboratory where Thomas Edison lived and worked from 1887 to 1931.
Phone: (973) 736-0550 x11
Edison Winter Home and Museum
200 mostly Edison phonographs.
Address:
2350 McGregor Blvd.
Instruments on display: Symphonion 3-disc Eroica musical clock, 15 1/2" Polyphon, Mermod cylinder box, Edison disc phono, Clariona, Polyphon upright, Seeburg 1910.
Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village
25 instruments plus a replica of Edison's laboratory. An in-depth demonstration of the invention that made Thomas Edison famous…the phonograph is available.
Address:
20900 Oakwood Blvd.
Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum
The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum, operated by the Carousel Society of the Niagara Frontier, is a premier national historic site and community resource for family recreation and learning that fosters an appreciation for the unique heritage of the carousel and related industries in the Niagara Region.
A renowned attraction of authentic and fantasy mechanical music. On your self-guided tour, you will explore the world's largest carousel, a 200-foot sea creature, automated music machines and much more. Phonoliszt-Violina, Double Violano, calliope, automatic orchestras, automata, etc.
Address:
5754 State Road 23
John Harris – Simon Cameron Museum
Disc and cylinder boxes, Gem roller organ, Celestina organette, Horton Autophone, three early Edison phonos. Tours by reservation. Open weekdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Society office open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The Johnson Victrola Museum is a tribute to Delaware's native son, Eldridge Reeves Johnson, who founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901. Exhibits include phonographs, recordings, memorabilia, trademarks, objects, and paintings that highlight Mr. Johnson's successful business enterprises and chronicle the development of the sound-recording industry. Edison phonograph, two gramophones, 43 Victors and Victrolas, 15,000 Victor records.
Several music boxes, Reginaphone. Open Mon - Sat 9am - 4pm November - April. Call first.
Knoebels Amusement Resort
Frati organ, Berni playing books, Wurlitzer 165 (De Kleist), 146B (Bruder), Wurlitzer Caliola, Tangley Calliaphone, coin piano. Open daily 11am - 10pm, Memorial Day - Labor Day.
Address:
391 Knoebels Blvd
LaPorte County Historical Society Museum
Criterion and Regina music boxes, phonographs, player piano. Instruments demonstrated.
Address:
2405 Indiana Ave., Suite 1
Lake County Historical Society
Amy Kapostasy, Director.
Exhibit consists of:
- 5 cylinder boxes
- 2 disc boxes with multiple discs
- 1 Edison phonograph
- 1 Molinari organ
- 1 Roller Organ
- Wonderful exhibits of local Ohio and national history.
Address:
415 Riverside Dr.
Cylinder box, Stella grand, Regina changer, street piano, organette, nickelodeon, Gem roller organ, orchestrion, Violano, automaton, phonographs and more.
Silver and gold steamboat automaton, 10-tune cylinder box, 24-whistle calliope from showboat.
Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Musuem
Nickelodeons, music boxes, phonos, arcade machines.
Address:
31005 Orchard Lake Rd.
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
Maryland Historical Society
Musical boxes occasionally on display; piano, grand harmonicon and musical instruments. Call in advance.
Address:
201 W. Monument St.
Cylinder and disc boxes, automata, and pneumatic instruments can be seen in the new exhibition Musical Machines & Living Dolls, featuring more than 150 pieces from the world-renowned Murtogh Guinness collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata. Live demos at 2 p.m. Open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sundays: 1-5 p.m. Mondays: Closed. Admission: $10 Adults; $7 Children and Seniors; Children under 3 years of age are free.
Address:
6 Normandy Heights Road
Welcome to the Musee Mecanique, one of the world's largest (over 200) privately owned collection of coin-operated mechanical musical instruments and antique arcade machines in their original working condition. (You can play them!) The historic Cliff House, Zelinsky collection.
Museum of Science & History
Regina disc music box #57923 shipped from the factory on Oct. 29, 1901.
Musical Instrument Museum
MIM’s Mechanical Music Gallery features a selection of musical instruments such as player pianos, mechanical zithers, and cylinder music boxes that, by definition, “play themselves.†The period between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known as the Golden Age of Mechanical Music, saw the creation of a remarkable range of self-playing instruments in Europe and the Americas. MIM’s Mechanical Music Gallery highlights a range of mechanical instrument types and technologies from this era, including artistic examples that feature animated components such as human and animal figures.
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Several instruments demonstrated. Welte orchestrion, Regina changer, reproducing pianos. Herschell carousel (circa 1940) in front of the old Arts and Industries Castle.
Address:
900 Jefferson Drive, SW
Mary Ann Porinchak, Executive Director
Exhibit consists of:
- 1 Regina 27” changer
- 1 Steck Player Piano (not working).
- Lots of wonderful early Packard automobiles
Address:
1899 Mahoning Ave. N.W.
The museum is currently private and can be viewed by appointment. The "Nickel Music Collection" contains about 20 coin pianos, orchestrions, and related items of a few collectors, including Bart Off, Dave Ramey, and Brad McClincy. Contact David Ramey (
dcramey@dcramey.com, 708-602-3961) or Brad McClincy (
coinpiano@gmail.com) for more information.
Olden Year Musical Museum
Music boxes, phonographs, Hurdy-Gurdys, organs, organettes, automata, radios/tvs. Appointment only.
Address:
1050 N. Duncanville Road
Seeburg L, Empress A-roll piano, Wurlitzer CX, Seeburg F with Aeolian push-up piano player.
Colorado Springs, CO 80904
Porter Music Box Museum – Closed
This museum is currently closed. Previously this museum offered a thirty minute tour to take you back in time to the heyday of the music box. Several exquisite boxes, acquired from famous collections, are played during the tour, as well as some of the unique Porter boxes manufactured on the premises. Many musical automata are on display. There is also an extraordinary 1926 Steinway Duo-Art Aeolian reproducing piano.
Address:
33 Sunset Hill Rd
Free exhibit of antique pianos and various automatic musical instruments. Mon - Fri 11am - 3 pm, Sunday 1pm - 5pm, or by appointment.
Address:
Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th St.
Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park. Welte 3 manual 15 rank pipe organ with Welte piano and Welte or Wurlitzer roll-player, Welte Mignon reproducing piano, Deagan tower chimes with automatic mechanism and roll-player.
Cylinder and disc music boxes, phonographs, miniatures, automaton, small organ. Several pieces by Gustave Vichy of Paris include a drunken chef, a magician, and a clown walking on his hands.
Address:
6000 Shelburne Road
Stahls Automotive Foundation
This museum has a vast collection of automated musical instruments and historic vehicles.
Address:
56516 North Bay Dr
New Baltimore, Michigan 48051
Eight miles north of Traverse City. Music boxes, barrel organ, player and reproducing pianos, orchestrions, phonographs, Violano, jukeboxes, organs of all types including a Mortier 97 key, and a Wurlitzer theatre organ.
Address:
7377 US 31 North, Box 297
The Nethercutt Collection
Huge collection: Welte, Violano, Banjo, Theater organ, reproducing pianos, cylinder/disc boxes, "Emperor Piano." No children under 10 years old on the guided tours.
Address:
15180 Bledsoe St.
The Sanfilippo Foundation Collection
Inspired in the 1950s by the collection of nickelodeon pianos at Angelo Valente's "House of Nickelodeons", (also known as the "Mil-Arm Inn", at the intersection of Milwaukee and Armitage in Chicago), the Sanfilippo music machine collection was started in 1978 with a small Nelson-Wiggen coin piano, a Bruder band organ, and a Welte Concert Orchestrion. The Wurlitzer opus #1571, built in 1927 for the Riviera Theatre in Omaha, has been expanded to 80 ranks of pipes. The overall result is the most versatile orchestral theatre pipe organ ever built. The carousel building, completed in 1997, is the home of the most complete example of a European salon carousel in existence - the 'Eden Palais' (or Eden Palace), built in 1890. The American Orchestrion Room, featuring a colorful display of some of the most beautiful art glass-front orchestrions ever made, including a Coinola SO, a Peerless Wisteria, a Peerless Arcadian with fancy carvings and hanging lamps, a Peerless Elite with flute pipes. All of the events open to the public are listed and updated regularly on the collection website, and in its E-Newsletter.
Barrington Hills, IL 60010
History of music in Virginia plus pianos, music boxes, nickelodeons, organs, and phonographs.
Address:
6316 Richmond Rd.
Western Reserve Historical Society
Colorful, hand-carved wooden horses, once at Euclid Beach Park on Cleveland's lakefront, now welcome riders once again in the Carousel Pavilion at the Western Reserve Historical Society.
A museum of the 20th Century. Among the exhibits is a music room with a "magic" player piano, Edison phonograph,a barrel piano and other items of interest. Open May/Oct, Wed/Sun from noon until 5pm. Groups of 20 or more by appointment. Bobbie Rice.
Address:
1710 W Woodside Drive
Yale Collection of Musical Instruments
No mechanical music. Noted for its balance and depth, Yale’s collection of keyboard instruments is one of the finest in the world. The Collection’s holdings comprise over a hundred examples, including organs, clavichords, harpsichords, spinets, virginals, and pianos from the workshops of the most important makers representing all the major regional schools over a span of three centuries.
