In yesterday's MMD Jay Merrill described an unusual instrument in the
onetime Beardsley Mansion, now an Elkhart, Ind., museum called Ruthmere.
He wasn't sure of its name but thought it was an "Orchescello."

I contacted Ruthmere ( http://www.ruthmere.org ) and received the
following reply from its Executive Director, Bill Firstenberger:

    "Thank you for your inquiry.  The piece in question is called a
    Choralcelo (sometimes spelled Choralcello).  Here is a brief
    writeup: http://www.keyboardmuseum.com/pre60/1900/choral.html 
    Ruthmere is home to one of the two surviving examples in the U.S.
    mentioned in the article."

This jogged my memory into recalling that not long ago the AMICA Bulletin
carried a definitive article about the Choralcelo.  Apparently AMICA has
published quite a bit on this rare instrument, as you will see by
following this link:
    http://www.amica.org/Live/Publications/Past-Bulletin-Articles/Choralcelo/index.htm 

Matthew Caulfield
Irondequoit, NY