Musical Museum Museums

During a visit to the Museum you will experience the fascinating world of automatic musical instruments, designed to provide music at the flick of a switch or at the turn of handle in the days before electronics and microphones.

While you are at the Museum sounds from the past will fill the air: the sweet-toned musical box, the grandeur of the pipe organ, the subtle sounds of the concert pianist, the racy rhythms of ragtime. Whether the instruments graced the mansions of the wealthy , or were designed for more humble dwellings, their background is explained and you will see and hear them play automatically!

You should allow 90 minutes for your visit. That way you can enjoy such marvels as the Mills Violano-Vituoso which plays a violin with piano accompaniment, the Steinway DuoArt grand piano which reproduces exactly the performance of pianists such as Gershwin, the Clarabella Orchestrion which contains all the instruments of a small dance band and the mighty Wurlitzer cinema organ.

The Museum was founded in 1963 by the late Frank Holland MBE who was passionate that self-playing musical instruments should be preserved and not destroyed and lost to future generations. Frank was a pioneer in this field and firmly believed that collections of musical instruments should be heard as well as seen. His work has been continued by enthusiastic volunteers ever since.

The Museum also houses the world's largest collection of historic musical rolls and has an extensive archive of related material.

The Museum is pleased to answer general enquiries about automatic instruments and the collection. Write to us at the above address (please enclose a stamped addresses envelope) - but because the Museum is staffed entirely by volunteers, who generously give up their spare time to run the collection, please allow 28 days for a reply