Carnegie Pipe Organs

[Guest]

For over 100 years our church has enjoyed the beautiful music played on our treasured Carnegie Pipe Organ which was installed and dedicated in 1913. It was built by the Hillgreen & Lane Co. of Alliance Ohio. We are in the beginning of a historic restoration and preservation of the organ including replacing the original leather gaskets and leather nuts throughout the organ. We are a small church in numbers, but very large in faith. After much discussion and a whole lot of prayer we have decided to move forward with determination to meet the financial challenge facing us to restore this historically unique 106 year old pipe organ so that future generations may enjoy the sound. We are interested in contacting other organizations with Carnegie organs or organizations that have done historical restorations of their organs. How many Carnegie organs are still intact and being used today?

[michaelhoddy]

I might be misunderstanding what you have there, but I'm pretty sure it's actually a Hillgreen & Lane organ that was partially funded by Andrew Carnegie, the industrialist and philanthropist. He was in the habit of underwriting educational, public, and artistic projects including at least a few church pipe organs including those by Hillgreen & Lane, although he himself was not religious.

If your organ is in original condition and hasn't been altered by others over the years, it is certainly of historical note. You might want to contact the Organ Historical Society, who would be able to provide you more information, including others who have similar instruments and have undertaken similar kinds of projects. They would also be able to connect you with organ builders and technicians who are properly qualified to do a competent restoration. As with any contractor, there is a wide gamut when it comes to proper qualifications and skillsets for this sort of project.

Blessings on you and the church as you undertake this significant and important project. Many others don't have the same long view of history that you do. I'm from upstate NY originally as well, and sadly, many churches there just abandon the organ or take ill-advised electronic or less competent shortcuts. I am glad that is not the case here!

https://organhistoricalsociety.org

[myorgan]

Vicki,

Welcome to the Forum. I hope you continue to participate here.

You can find the list of Carnegie-donated organs by searching for: "Carnegie Corporation Register of Donations, Church Organs No. 1" (including the quotes). There are 3 volumes, so you can search for the other two simply by replacing the number "1" to "2" and "3" to find those downloads. The links should take you to a location at Columbia University's archives, and if you wish, you can download the primary-source documents there. The PDF files are approximately 200-300MB each, so plan on a long download.

Hope this helps.

Michael

[myorgan]

P.S. The links are:
Volume 1: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?...3960/t83k0gq4x
Volume 2: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?...3960/t4bp74818
Volume 3: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?...3960/t9s250b5w

Michael

[Victor Jules]

Wow, wikid. says he sponsored 7,500 organs -- more than some major builders have made!

[AllenAnalog]

He also paid for pipe organs at institutions other than churches. He gave $25,000 to Cornell President Andrew Dickson White to buy a 4-manual, 64 rank J.W. Steere symphonic pipe organ for the University concert hall that was built about 1912. The organ was torn out in the early 1960s during the Baroque revival madness but I own some of the remaining parts of it, including a 25-note set of Class A chimes. One of the massive pedal ranks ended up in a pizza parlor in Toronto, Canada.

[Victor Jules]

Just astounding, isn't it. Where are tycoons that give a damn about organs or small churches nowadays?