Silenced musical treasures languish in Michigan vault

[Bozita]

JANUARY 15, 2012 AT 1:47 PM
Silenced musical treasures languish in Michigan vault
BY JEFF KAROUB ASSOCIATED PRESS


Ann Arbor — A massive cache of musical treasures that's grown to include a fragile harp-piano, the pioneering Moog synthesizer and the theremin used for "The Green Hornet" radio show has been shuffled over the years from a theater to an unheated barn and now languish, rarely seen or heard, in a Michigan storage vault.

Spanning centuries and continents, the instruments worth at least $25 million by their chief caretaker's estimate are packed and stacked in an out-of-the-way storage room with water-stained ceilings. It's hardly the environment envisioned for them when Detroit businessman Frederick Stearns gave the University of Michigan the base of the collection a century ago with instructions that the instruments be exhibited — not invisible.

"The only way I can characterize it is Tut's Tomb, because it's been so forgotten about for so many years," said Steven Ball, director of the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments. "The collection has been in a holding pattern for 112 years. This is a national treasure — it deserves the dignity of either being properly housed ... or to be dispersed in such a way that it could be."

Such "orphan" collections pose problems for many academic institutions, despite the prestige that comes with owning them. Kris Anderson, director of the University of Washington's Jacob Lawrence Gallery, said he discovered a repository of nearly 1,000 forgotten paintings and other artwork spanning more than a century. He found out about the collection because its main basement storage space was being reused.

more...
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120115/ENT04/201150331/1361/Silenced-musical-treasures-languish-in-Michigan-vault

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Dibs on the Moog.

[tridim]

10. I have two.

Simulated in software on my PC.

They are every bit as fun to play with as the real thing.

[Fire Walk With Me]

12. I've owned the real thing in several configurations, and directly compared it to

an early version of the software.

Hardware is my chosen path

[tridim]

13. No argument here.

But for a sim it's pretty damn impressive.. And the polyphony is handy.

I'd own the real deal if I could afford one.

[Fire Walk With Me]

14. I can't afford the real deal either

but I'll happily embrace the sims when they reach a certain level of "compelling" that is easily obtained through the hardware... Cheers!

[MineralMan]

2. Museums should de-acquisition such collections.

They sometimes think they can't, because of bequests, etc. But they can do it. They just don't. The reality is that poor storage of things like musical instruments means that they deteriorate until they are no longer displayable. These instruments will never be displayed by that museum. There isn't any money for it, and there's not enough public interest to make them a viable exhibit. To prevent their deterioration, they should be sold, either to a museum or educational institution that has the capabilities of conserving them, displaying them, or dealing with them properly. If such a museum can't be found, then they should be sold to the public at auction. Collectors will buy them up in a second.

But, because of some weird belief that they must hold onto these bequests, the stuff just disintegrates until it has no value at all.

[Ikonoklast]

8. Correct. If they cannot or will not do so, let someone else try.

If that means the artifact is being preserved by a private individual, at least it is still being preserved.

Just sticking it in a shed does no good for no one.

[bif]

3. And yet U of M spends millions on their sports programs

Go figure.

[orpupilofnature57]

6. You'd think Maddona or Gerald Ford ,would have

taken an interest,they went there ,Maddona dropped out, and Gerald graduated ,go figure.

[3waygeek]

9. Given that President Ford passed away in 2006,

I doubt he's taking much interest in anything these days.

[Robb]

15. Well, he might still be interested in the harp.

I'm rusty on my scripture, but it sort of depends, I think.

[orpupilofnature57]

17. Word has it he's into the 528 frequency now.

[orpupilofnature57]

16. They've had it for the last century ,I knew

he was gone ,the only Republican I gave a pass to.

[Rex]

4. You might also want to cross post this in the Art Forum

if you have not already done so.

[Bozita]

5. Good idea. Will do.

[Rex]

7. That find is amazing!

That you for the thread! The comparison to King Tut's Tomb says it all.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. "stored in an unheated barn ..." Well, there go the wooden instruments.

Maybe they can clean them up and exhibit them, but their playing days are over.

They should donate -- or lend -- the collection to one of these:
http://themim.org/
http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/
http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/

[xchrom]

18. Du rec. Nt

[JDPriestly]

19. Has anyone seen the Art of the Steal?

This article makes me a bit suspicious about the motives of those who want to "save" an old collection.

That movie is well worth seeing.