Lee Munsick wrote, "In one museum in Paterson, New Jersey, we found
a gorgeous closed Swiss cylinder musical box.  Our group asked to hear
it and was told it didn't operate.  We then asked why it was there!
We offered to have it restored at our expense by none other than the
late grand lady, Ruth Bornand.  We asked to hear it, and all it needed
was dampers.  Our offer had the proviso that it would be situated where
not just anybody could tinker with it (this is why the machines fail)
but played on a regular schedule by someone trained in proper care.
They refused."

Sometimes museums get it right.  Decades ago I visited the Atwater Kent
museum in Philadelphia.  In the foyer was a table top Regina set to
play continuously, it was vigorously playing the "Liberty Bell March"
to a curious group.  Inside a curator had pulled out an interchangeable
cylinder box (it had a _lot_ of cylinders) and was taking requests:
if you saw something on the tune sheet that looked nice he'd find it.
He said that it had been recently found in storage, it was a rainy day
and it seemed like a good time to try it out.

Of course, that was the 1970's and the box was (at most) a hundred
hears old, and museums had enough money to pay someone to actually make
the visitors happy.

Eric Stott, Albany, New York