Ebenezer Goodrich

[nutmegct]

While visiting the artifact collection at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts today, I found this Ebenezer Goodrich organ.

Altho' I couldn't open the case, here are some exterior photos:



I also found this detail on a "twin" of the instrument, in the Smithsonian:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/collec...6033#coa-11309

The Smithsonian page has four photos, including the interior.

E. Goodrich, brother of William Goodrich, was known mostly for pipe organs, and for developing a reed organ reed design. I wonder if there is a set of reeds in the pipe organ I saw today.

Edit: the Smithsonian instrument looks modified for electric blower.

Tom M.

[davidecasteel]

Interesting. I visited the Old Sturbridge Village in 2013 and did not see this instrument. I did see (and hear) the pipe organ in the Friends Meetinghouse. The maker is unknown, but there is a document that says it may have been Henry Pratt of Winchester, NH. You can see my photos of this organ and the organist who played it in this Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/871255...7635101045977/. You'll need to pass by about 30 photos for the first few pictures of it, and then another 56 for the second set. There was a notebook in the front pew of the Meetinghouse with text and photos of the organ, and I did photograph each page (seen in that second set). Here are a couple of those photos from Flickr.

David

[nutmegct]

David - thanks for the photos. That Goodrich instrument is in the collections archive, which is closed to the public; the organ was donated to Sturbridge Village long ago. We had no primary sources relating the instrument to the Towne House, so we removed it, and put the Osborne piano in its place. I believe the piano was owned at one time by Salem Towne.



I actually work at Sturbridge Village, as farmer/gardener/orchardist.

One of our quandaries at Sturbridge, is deciding what to "keep as found" for research, and what to "restore/repair" for use. Most of the time it's a compromise, as in the case of the Meetinghouse organ, and the Towne House piano.

Tom M.

[davidecasteel]

As I recall, the Meetinghouse organ needed some tuning....

[nutmegct]

As I recall, the Meetinghouse organ needed some tuning....

(It still does.)

[davidecasteel]

(It still does.)

Yep. That's pretty much how I remember it....