Hi All,  The recent discussion about donating instruments to a museum
has been quite interesting.  I haven't figured out the right thing to
do myself, but I can pass along a couple observations.

Whatever you decide to do, there will always be both positive and
negative consequences.  If you give something to a museum, it will
probably be more secure than in an individual home.  Okay, so this
doesn't always happen with a local history museum or the town historical
society, but an official, accredited museum will probably be more
secure than most people's house (think fire or theft).  It might linger
in the basement, unseen for years, but at least it won't disappear.
I offer the following example to illustrate my second and third points.

One local but nationally known museum has a dozen or so musical
instruments; they have been in a glass case for years.  I suspect that
nobody has ever heard them except a nickelodeon they had out for a few
months for a special display.  These instruments have been _seen_ by
tens of thousands of people and they are probably as secure as if they
were in a bank.  But nobody has ever _heard_ them.

Another large local museum has over a dozen instruments and they are
_all_ in storage.  For many years they had a large orchestra box on
display for people to play but it finally gave up the ghost and they put
it away (amazing!).  They won't restore any of them although most would
work with just a little effort.  Some are in the museum basement in
secure storage and I have been told that the rest are in the 'warehouse',
which appears to be a wood frame building shared by a woodworking
company in a not-so-great neighborhood.

I did a thorough search of both places some years ago looking for an
old orchestrion that they once had in their collection.  During the
search, the curator showed me a huge, interchangeable cylinder box on
a dresser stand.  He pulled out a drawer to see what was inside.  He
pulled it all the way out before I had a chance to warn him.  I caught
the back edge as it went past so the 6 cylinders inside didn't hit the
concrete floor.

Did I mention that the woodworking shop is heated by a wood burning
stove???

There are a few private or public museums that are dedicated to
mechanical musical instruments where instruments are well protected and
can be both seen and heard.  These are wonderful resources and a joy to
visit.  But they probably already have examples of all but the most
rare instruments.

Well, it's a quandary.

Regards,
Craig Smith
Upstate New York