Category Archives: Great Collections

The Yale Collection of Musical Instruments was established in 1900, when Morris Steinert, an entrepreneurial figure who played an important role in shaping New Haven’s music scene, gave his private musical instrument collection to Yale, consisting primarily of keyboard instruments, seeding the Collection. The acquisition of the Belle Skinner Collection (1960) and the Emil Herrmann […]

Emmy, Grammy, People’s Choice, and Academy Award Winner hardly begin to describe Steve Martin, who has entertained us for decades on radio and TV, in the movies, on music-hall stages, and in comedy clubs across the country and around the world. His brand of homespun and goofy humor and always charming and memorable characters are […]

Sara J. Schechner, Ph. D. (photos: Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University)   This is a story of the impact a collector can have on creating one of the world’s most celebrated of specialized museums. The museum is Harvard University’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments and the man responsible is David P. Wheatland of […]

The International Quilt Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is home to the world’s largest publicly held quilt collection. With quilts spanning five centuries and more than 55 countries, the museum is focused on creating an encyclopedic collection. That is, a collection that represents the depth and breadth of quilts and quilt making traditions throughout […]

The Glass City Museum: How Edward Drummond Libbey’s Glass Collection Started the Toledo Museum of Art   Edward Drummond Libbey was one of the most influential leaders who innovated the manufacturing of glass and fostered its craftsmanship and design in the U.S. His management style was based on the powerhouses of the time—Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, etc.—but […]

Inheriting a Collection of Musical Note: An Interview with Jane Porter When her mother passed away in 2011, Jane Porter thought she was prepared to take on her beloved collection of rare books and American sheet music. Her mother had been grooming her since the late 1980s so that when the time came, Jane would […]

Make No Little Plans: A.B. Wells, A Collector of Americana Excerpts from osv.org on their founding collector extraordinaire Old Sturbridge Village began as one man’s hobby, but over the years has evolved into a national institution, recreating life as it was in Colonial New England, right down to the tools of the trade. He gave […]