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50-448: The NMM's renowned collections , which include American, European, and non-Western instruments from a wide breadth cultures and historical periods, are among the world's most inclusive. They contain many of the earliest, best preserved, and historically most Western important instruments known to survive. The quality and scope of the NMM has earned it international recognition. In August 2023,

100-497: A card index , but nowadays in a computerized database . Transferring collection catalogues onto computer-based media is a major undertaking for most museums. All new acquisitions are normally catalogued on a computer in modern museums, but there is typically a backlog of old catalogue entries to be computerized as time and funding allows. A museum's permanent collection are assets that the museum owns and may display, although space and conservation requirements often mean that most of

150-510: A conservator and treated for any pre-existing damage. The object is then cataloged by a curator or other specialist with knowledge of the object's importance and history. The object will then be given an appropriate storage location. Museum storage conditions are meant to protect the object and to minimize any deterioration. This often means keeping objects in a stable climate, preventing exposure to pests, minimizing any handling, and using only archival materials that will not deteriorate or harm

200-412: A Neapolitan virginal (ca. 1520), three 17th-century Flemish harpsichords (two by Andreas Ruckers ), 17th- and 18th-century English, German, Portuguese, and French harpsichords, and German and Swedish clavichords . A group of 500 instruments made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the C.G. Conn Company of Elkhart, Indiana , is a resource unparalleled anywhere for historical research about

250-405: A collecting policy for new acquisitions, so only objects in certain categories and of a certain quality are accepted into the collection. The process by which an object is formally included in the collection is called accessioning and each object is given a unique accession number . Museum collections, and archives in general, are normally catalogued in a collection catalogue , traditionally in

300-400: A collection is not on display. Museums often also host temporary exhibitions of works that may come all or partly from their permanent collection, or may be all or partly loaned (a "loan exhibition"). A travelling exhibition is shown in more than one venue; these tend to be either large loan exhibitions which may be exhibited at two or three venues in different countries, or selections from

350-404: A collection stays together. However, such restrictions can prevent museums from changing their exhibits as scholarship evolves and may introduce conservation issues for delicate objects not suited to continued display. Final decision to accept an object generally lies with the museum's board of trustees. In large museums, a special committee may meet regularly to review potential acquisitions. Once

400-460: A given museum's defined area of interest. Accessioning is the formal, legal process of accepting an object into a museum collection. Because accessioning an object carries an obligation to care for that object in perpetuity, it is a serious decision. While in the past many museums accepted objects with little deliberation, today most museums have accepted the need for formal accessioning procedures and practices. These are typically set out as part of

450-634: A major American industry and the American band movement. The NMM's holdings by 17th- and 18th-century Nürnberg makers of wind instruments , including members of the Denner , Ehe, Haas, Oberlender, and Steinmetz families, as well as Ernst Busch, Paul Hainlein, Johann Benedikt Gahn, Johann Carl Kodisch, Leonhard Maussiel, Michael Nagel, and Paulus Schmidt, are unique outside of Germany. The NMM's holdings of 17th- and 18th-century Dutch woodwind instruments by such makers as Richard Haka (represented here by

500-457: A mouthpiece which then causes a reed , or reeds, to vibrate. Similarly to flutes, reed pipes are also further divided into two types: single reed and double reed. Single-reed woodwinds produce sound by fixing a reed onto the opening of a mouthpiece (using a ligature ). When air is forced between the reed and the mouthpiece, the reed causes the air column in the instrument to vibrate and produce its unique sound. Single reed instruments include

550-473: A museum's collection management policy (CMP). While each museum has its own procedures for accessioning, in most cases it begins with either an offer from a donor to give an object to a museum, or a recommendation from a curator to acquire an object through purchase or trade. Art objects may also come into a collection as a commission. An accession may also be bequeathed to a museum and are included in an estate or trust. Several issues must be considered in

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600-426: A museum's RH to accommodate the changing seasons, but they must be made gradually. Humidity should change in 2% per month increments (an increase in 1 °F will affect a decrease of about 2% RH). Deaccessioning , the process of disposing, selling or trading objects from a museum collection, is not undertaken lightly in most museums. There are ethical issues to consider since many donors of objects typically expect

650-500: A particular county or even a single person, or focus on a type of object such as automobiles or stamps. Art museums may focus on a period, such as modern art, or a region. Very large museums will often have many sub-collections, each with its own criteria for collecting. A natural history museum, for example, will have mammals in a separate collection from insects. Because museums cannot collect everything, each potential new addition must be carefully considered as to its appropriateness for

700-479: A portion of their collections. This is often because exhibition requires much more space than storage, and is impractical for the entire collection to be out. Museums may also contain many duplicate or similar objects and find that a few specimens are better suited to display than others. In addition, certain objects, particularly works on paper and textiles, are damaged by light and must only be displayed for short periods of time. Museum collections are often made up of

750-626: A soprano recorder made ca. 1690), Hendrik Richters , Philip Borkens , and Abraham van Aardenberg is unique outside of the Netherlands . The Witten-Rawlins Collection of early Italian stringed instruments crafted by Andrea Guarneri , Antonio Stradivari , three generations of the Amati family, and others by far surpasses any in Italy. Included are two 17th-century Cremonese stringed instruments preserved in unaltered condition. Additionally,

800-414: A sound with a closed flute, the player is required to blow air into a duct. This duct acts as a channel, bringing the air to a sharp edge. As with the open flutes, the air is then split; this causes the column of air within the closed flute to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of this type of flute include the recorder , ocarina , and organ pipes . Reed instruments produce sound by focusing air into

850-668: A stream of air across a sharp edge that then splits the airstream. This split air stream then acts upon the air column contained within the flute's hollow, causing it to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of open flutes are the transverse flute , panpipes , and shakuhachi . Ancient flutes of this variety, including bamboo flutes , were often made from tubular sections of plants such as grasses, reeds, bamboo and hollowed-out tree branches. Later, flutes were made of metals such as tin , copper , or bronze . Modern concert flutes are usually made of high-grade metal alloys , usually containing nickel , silver , copper , or gold . To produce

900-404: A variety of materials in a single collection including, but not limited to: canvas, oil and/or acrylic paints, wood, ivory, paper, bone, leather, and textiles. The biggest conservation issue for museum collections is the fluctuations in relative humidity and temperature. Relative Humidity (RH) is a measure of the percentage of saturation of the air. Temperature is not as important to the life of

950-402: A woodwind because it requires a reed to produce sound. Occasionally, woodwinds are made of earthen materials, especially ocarinas . Flutes produce sound by directing a focused stream of air across the edge of a hole in a cylindrical tube. The flute family can be divided into two subfamilies: open flutes and closed flutes. To produce a sound with an open flute, the player is required to blow

1000-500: A work of art, but it is true that chemical reactions occur faster at higher temperatures. However, a museum must take into account the comfort of its staff and visitors and it has been widely accepted that 68–75 °F (20–24 °C) does not cause a lot of problems for most artifacts and is comfortable for most humans. It has also been internationally agreed upon that the RH should be set at 50–55%. This has become widely accepted because

1050-416: Is a specialized library, extensive study-storage areas, and a laboratory for the conservation and restoration of the instruments . There are violin-making tools and Baroque fittings, early harpsichord and fortepiano tuning hammers, and 1,000 brass instrument mouthpieces from virtually every turn-of-the-century manufacturer. It also has rich holdings of related objects and archival materials, such as

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1100-421: Is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions , education , research , etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library , where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented, or a private collection of art formed by an individual, family or institution that may grant no public access. A museum normally has

1150-493: Is forced between the two pieces (again, causing the air within the instrument to vibrate as well). This family of reed pipes is subdivided further into another two subfamilies: exposed double reed, and capped double reed instruments. Exposed double-reed instruments are played by having the double reed directly between the player's lips. This family includes instruments such as the oboe , cor anglais (also called English horn), and bassoon , and many types of shawms throughout

1200-419: Is sale on the open market. Open market sales are generally expected to take place at auction rather than through private sale, and are typically most common in art museums due to the high monetary value of art collections. A controversial example occurred when the last remaining complete dodo mount in a museum collection at Oxford University was deaccessioned due to its deterioration in 1775. Another case

1250-531: Is the only place in the world where one can find two 18th-century grand pianos with the specific type of action conceived by the piano's inventor, Bartolomeo Cristofori . One of these, built in 1767 by Manuel Antunes of Lisbon , is the earliest signed and dated piano by a maker native to Portugal ; the other, built by Louis Bas in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon in 1781, is the earliest extant French grand piano. Other extraordinary keyboards include

1300-399: Is the way in which they produce sound. All woodwinds produce sound by splitting the air blown into them on a sharp edge, such as a reed or a fipple . Despite the name, a woodwind may be made of any material, not just wood. Common examples of other materials include brass, silver, cane, and other metals such as gold and platinum. The saxophone, for example, though made of brass, is considered

1350-611: The 1970 UNESCO Convention covering the transport of cultural property. Other disciplines have different concerns. For example, anthropology museums will pay special attention to Native American objects that may be subject to repatriation, and paleontology museums may look carefully at whether proper permitting procedures were followed when they are offered fossil collections. While in the past, museums often accepted objects with donor-based restrictions, many museums today ask that gifts be given unrestricted . Common donor restrictions include requiring that an object always be exhibited, or that

1400-605: The Museums Association 's Code of Ethics . In the United States , the guidelines on these matters are issued by the American Alliance of Museums . The American Alliance of Museums Code of Ethics takes the position that "in no event shall they [deaccessioning proceeds] be used for anything other than acquisition or direct care of collections". Other museums may have additional restrictions on

1450-541: The University of South Dakota , which provides staff and facilities for preservation, teaching, and research, and the Board of Trustees of the NMM, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation that is responsible for acquisitions, public exhibiting, and programming. The NMM was established around the private musical-instrument collection, numbering approximately 2500 instruments, of Arne B. Larson. Larson's son, Dr. André P. Larson,

1500-414: The clarinet and saxophone . Double reed instruments use two precisely cut, small pieces of cane bound together at the base. This form of sound production has been estimated to have originated in the middle to late Neolithic period ; its discovery has been attributed to the observation of wind blowing through a split rush. The finished, bound reed is inserted into the instrument and vibrates as air

1550-612: The NMM preserves one of four Stradivari guitars to be seen in a museum setting, and one of only two Stradivari mandolins known to survive. The sum of these groups of American, Dutch, German, and Italian instruments is to be found nowhere else. The 1994 addition of the John Powers Saxophone Collection (Aspen, Colorado) and the Cecil Leeson Saxophone Collection and Archives (transferred from Ball State University ) make

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1600-627: The NMM the preeminent center for studying the history of brass instruments . The Alan Bates Harmonica Collection and Archives (Wilmington, Delaware), received as a gift in 2000, is second in size and importance only to the Harmonika Museum in Trossingen , Germany. The 2005 gift of the D'Angelico, D'Aquisto, Gudelsky Workshop was the focus of a major exhibition, "Great American Guitars" (by D'Angelico , D'Aquisto , Fender , Gibson , Martin , and Stromberg-Voisinet ). In April 2007,

1650-668: The NMM the preeminent center for studying the history of the saxophone . The 1996 addition of the Rosario Mazzeo (Carmel, California) and the Bill Maynard (Massapequa, New York) Clarinet Collections make the NMM the preeminent center for studying the clarinet . The 1999 addition of the Joe & Joella Utley ( Spartanburg , South Carolina) Collection and the establishment of the Utley Institute for Brass Studies makes

1700-405: The collection of a large museum which tour to a number of regional museums. Museum collections are widely varied. There are collections of art , of scientific specimens, of historic objects, of living zoological specimens and much more. Because there are so many things to collect, most museums have a specific area of specialization. For example, a history museum may only collect objects relevant to

1750-437: The decision has been made to accept an object, it is formally accessioned through a Deed of Gift and entered into the museum's catalog records. Each object is given a unique catalog number to identify it. Objects are then packed for appropriate archival storage, or prepared for exhibition or other educational use. Once accessioned into the collection, museum objects must be appropriately cared for. New objects may be examined by

1800-533: The decision to accept an object. Common issues include: Answering these questions often required investigating an object's provenance , the history of an object from the time it was made. Many museums will not accession objects that have been acquired illegally or where other parties have an interest in the object. In art museums, special care is given to objects that changed hands in European countries during World War II and archaeological objects unearthed after

1850-442: The kitchen." Woodwind instrument Plucked Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments . Common examples include flute , clarinet , oboe , bassoon , and saxophone . There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed instruments (otherwise called reed pipes). The main distinction between these instruments and other wind instruments

1900-428: The lower limit was set at 45% since damage to organic materials begin to occur below this point. The upper limit is placed at 65% because mold flourishes at 70% RH. It is also cheaper for most institutions to maintain 50% RH rather than 45% or 60%. There is some exception when it comes to tropical climates since the indigenous artifacts are acclimated to RH levels higher than the "museum norm". Changes can be made to

1950-469: The method of disposal. Generally, first choice is to transfer an object to another use or division in a museum, such as deaccessioning a duplicate object from a permanent collection into a teaching collection. Second choice is to transfer the object to another institution, generally with local institutions having priority. The American Alliance of Museums and other regional associations often operate lists or boards to help facilitate such transfers. Last choice

2000-630: The museum outbid New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art at a Christie's auction in acquiring a rare English cittern dating from the late 16th century, "This instrument is extremely rare, probably the only English cittern from the Renaissance known to survive," museum director André Larson said. "We already have an Italian cittern from the same period, but it's one of two or three that have survived." 42°46′58″N 96°55′35″W  /  42.782839°N 96.926354°W  / 42.782839; -96.926354 Collection (museum) A museum

2050-413: The museum re-opened its permanent exhibitions following a multi-year renovation and reinstallation. Alongside a modern addition to the historic Carnegie Library building, the new galleries offer over 16,000 square feet of displays showcasing the way musical instruments, across time and space, a part of our lives. The museum's current director is Dwight Vaught. The NMM was founded as a partnership between

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2100-416: The museum to care for them in perpetuity. Deaccessioning of an object in a collection may be appropriate if a museum has more than one example of that object and if the object is being transferred to another museum. It may also be appropriate if an object is badly deteriorated or threatening other objects. The decision to deaccession includes two parts. These are making the decision to deaccession and deciding

2150-686: The objects. Object safety also include providing appropriate security, and planning for disasters and other threats, and making sure that museum staff are trained in proper handling procedures. Different types of objects have different requirements, and many museums have specialized storage areas. For example, framed paintings may be stored in racks in one room while unframed paintings are kept in large drawers in another. Some objects have extremely specialized needs. For example, material from underwater archaeological sites may need to be kept wet, and some very rare and badly deteriorated objects require oxygen-free environments. At any given time, museums display only

2200-686: The reeds are never in direct contact with the player's lips. Free reed aerophone instruments are likewise unique since sound is produced by 'free reeds' – small metal tongues arranged in rows within a metal or wooden frame. The airflow necessary for the instrument's sound is generated either by a player's breath (e.g. harmonica ), or by bellows (e.g. accordion ). The modern orchestra 's woodwind section typically includes flutes , oboes , clarinets , and bassoons . Supplementary instruments include piccolo , cor anglais , bass clarinet , E-flat clarinet , and contrabassoon . Saxophones are also used on occasion. The concert band 's woodwind section

2250-595: The remaining collection. For example, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Code of Ethics states that: "Money or compensation received from the deaccessioning and disposal of objects and specimens from a museum collection should be used solely for the benefit of the collection and usually for acquisitions to that same collection". In the United Kingdom , guidelines governing deaccessioning and other ethically difficult issues can be found in

2300-418: The unequaled Salabue-Fiorini-De Wit-Hermann- Witten - Rawlins Collection of 650 violin makers' labels. The American musical instrument manufacturers archives is the largest of its kind. Scholars from around the world make frequent use of the NMM's collections and facilities, providing an important opportunity for students to meet and work with individuals on the latest scholarship on musical research. The NMM

2350-493: The use of funds from deaccessioning. For example, at some museums funds from deaccessioning a work of art can only be used to purchase a work of similar style or period (for example, funds from selling a 20th-century American print could not be used to buy a 17th-century Italian painting) and the name of the donor of the sold work remains associated with the purchased artwork. Selling artwork to fund budget deficits and pay salaries has been compared to "burning down your house to heat

2400-414: The world. Capped double-reed instruments, on the other hand, have the double reed covered by a cap; the player blows through a hole in this cap that then directs the air through the reeds. This family includes the crumhorn . Bagpipes are unique reed pipe instruments, since they use two or more double or single reeds. However, bagpipes are functionally the same as a capped double reed instruments, since

2450-509: Was the founding director of the museum until his retirement in 2011. The NMM is housed in a complex that incorporates an historic building (originally the university's library, built in 1910 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie 's library building program) mated with a modern addition, which was opened in 2021. The Concert Hall has superb acoustics and provides a perfect setting for performing and recording music played on original instruments of various historical periods and cultural milieu. There

2500-482: Was the sale of a J. M. W. Turner painting in the collection of Royal Holloway, University of London to the Getty Museum to fund the maintenance of the building, despite the fact that the original benefactor had expressly requested that the collection be kept intact. Many ethical guidelines for deaccessioning require that the funds generated by disposing of collection items be used only to increase or maintain

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