Hi all,  I was reading "Player Piano Treasury" and wondering about some
of the museums listed there. I have already searched the MMD Archives
and Musica Mecanica, and I have heard of (or visited) some, including:

Deansboro Music Museum, Deansboro, New York (auctioned off),
Bellm's Cars and Music of Yesterday, Sarasota, Florida
  (changed ownership; now only 6 or 7 instruments on display),
Virginia City and Nevada City, Montana
  (some instruments lost in a fire, collection reduced somewhat),
Miles Musical Museum, Eureka Springs, Arkansas (sold at auction),
Gay 90's Village, Sikeston, Missouri (sold to Disney, then most
  instruments were sold to collectors), and
Svoboda's Nickelodeon tavern, Chicago Heights, IL (not there anymore).

There are also some museums that I need the current status of;
for these, I will list the instruments I can recognize to whet the
collectors' appetites (and help me gain info).  These museums are

Antique Auto and Music Museum (Tom Protsman's collection), Stone
Mountain, Georgia (mentioned in 1997 MMD; is it still open?):
instruments in view:

  Tangley 43-note calliope; 69-key Mortier dance organ (cut down from
its original size); small brass trumpet organ of unknown origin; Coinola
X; Seeburg K (Eagle, with xylophone); Seeburg G; Seeburg C (cabinet
piano like L but with xylophone stuffed in the bottom); Cremona G with
violin pipes; Seeburg KT (Eagle, with xylophone); build-up orchestrion
(with 2 or 3 ranks of pipes, a xylophone, and drums & traps);
Nelson-Wiggen 4-x; large upright Polyphon disc music box; North
Tonawanda Pianolin; and a Seeburg E missing the xylophone and with a
reproducing piano pump installed.

Tom Fretty collection,(what's the 'official' name?), Manly, Iowa:
instruments in view:

  Seeburg L (cabinet); Empress Electric L ("solo twin tracker");
Wurlitzer Pianino; Link 2-E; either a Seeburg F or a Cremona G;
Coinola Midget, style "O"; single Violano-Virtuoso; Western Electric
Mascot style "C" (which is barely supporting the bulk of a 49-note
Deagan Una-Fon!); European tall case keyboard orchestrion (looks like
a Losche); modified European keyboard coin piano; and a Wurlitzer
Tonophone!

Next is the Golden 20's Museum, St. Maries, Idaho: instruments visible:
  Encore banjo; Regina Sublima; Wurlitzer Caliola; Wurlitzer 153;
Cremona G?; and a Wurlitzer 125, among bird boxes and other small items.

The Chuck Wagon Cafe, Atoka, Oklahoma: instruments visible:
  Tangley 43-note calliope; "Double" Mills Violano; Coinola SO(!);
gutted Seeburg K or KT; Coinola Midget in a white case; and a "Single"
Mills Violano.

National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: instruments able
to be seen in pictures:
  Seeburg "E"; Seeburg "G"; Seeburg "KT"; "Single" Mills Violano;
and Wurlitzer Bijou Orchestra.

Finally, I will finish up with a list of pictures of places mentioned
in the book where these wonderful music-makers can still be enjoyed.
Complete info is available on Philippe Rouille's web site, Musica
Mecanica, http://www.cnam.fr/museum/musica_mecanica/

Clark's Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire: Instruments seen:
  Wurlitzer 150 band organ; Wurlitzer 146B band organ; Wurlitzer LX
orchestrion; Link 2-BEX cabinet orchestrion; Electrova Style 66;
and an Artizan Band organ, among other things.

Jake DeBence collection(now DeBence music world), Franklin,
Pennsylvania: instruments shown or that I know about:
  Berry-Wood A.O.W. (one of two known); Link AX; Link RX; Cremona A;
Seeburg B; North Tonawanda band organ; "Single" Mills Violano;
Aeolian orchestrion; Cremona "J"; Wurlitzer Pianino; Artizan calliope;
Wurlitzer Caliola; Coinola Midget style "K"; Seeburg K; Seeburg KT;
Wurlitzer 105 band organ; Wurlitzer 148 band organ; North Tonawanda
style L coin piano; and other instruments.

I would love to know the current status of the museums, or the current
whereabouts of the instruments (especially the Coinola SO!) if the
museum does not exist.  It is too bad that some landmark places like
the Deansboro Museum and Miles Musical Museum were broken up, and the
selling of Gay 90's Museum, and the change of ownership at Bellm's,
but we are lucky to still have places like San Sylmar and DeBence Music
World to give detailed histories of the instruments, and places like
Knott's Berry Farm and Clark's Trading Post where you can enjoy the
music in a setting much like the ones where these instruments were
originally played.

Andrew Barrett