When I moved into our retirement village, there was no music program.
So, I started one.  Six years ago someone donated 600 pieces of sheet
music to the village, but it was rejected and about to be thrown in
the dumpster.  I rescued it, and was putting it into alphabetical order
when another musician came into the room where I was working.  He noted
that most of the music was from 1900 to about 1920's.  Another gent
came in and asked what we were doing, and volunteered to put it into
a data base for us.

Today we have a music library with close to 20,000 pieces of sheet
music from 1900-1960.  It is all in the data base for easy access.
The word got out into the community, and students doing research on
music from Penn State U come and access the data base.  Several local
band leaders also use the database.  When they find something they
want, we simply make one copy which is all we are legally able to do if
it is still in copyright, but most of it is out of print and out of
copyright protection.

I do a lecture/organ/piano show on the history of mechanical music,
ragtime, and stride which has become popular in our area.  I make use
of MIDI files from player pianos to control our digital piano, play my
crank organs, and give some live performance of ragtime.  Although our
sheet music is not related to mechanical music exactly, it is a form
of protecting music so popular during the time of mechanical music's
popularity.

We also developed an instrument lending library for residents who want
to revisit their musical experience from the past.  We have close to 50
instruments that they can borrow, and teaching books in the library
also.

Al Good
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania