As a resident of Northern Virginia, for years I've been going to the
Smithsonian's Museum of American History in Washington, DC and gazing
upon the Welte Philharmonic orchestrion that's sitting in the ground
floor's Palm Court restaurant.  A sign in front of it says that it's
"often played on weekdays between 12:30 and 1." Being a 9-5 working
grunt, however, I'm normally only there on weekends, so have never
heard it perform, until yesterday.

Finding myself in DC on business, I decided to pop into the museum
around 12:30.  I checked at the information desk and was told that,
yes, the docent in charge of it often came down and played it during
his lunch break.  Fortunately, this proved to be one of those
occasions, and I was treated to two wonderful classical rolls on this
astounding organ.

The gentleman explained that this was the next generation Welte
orchestrion from the large ones featured on recent CD issue (one of
which is owned by a collector in nearby Baltimore).  The Smithsonian's
model was a Number 2 size, and has five ranks of both wooden and metal
pipes (one being a rank of reed oboe pipes), plus triangle and drum.
In a cabinet next to the instrument was a large cache of original Welte
rolls, including a 6-roll set of Beethoven's Pastoral (6th) Symphony!

The Palm Court also has a Mason & Hamlin 5'8" Ampico A Grand which is
often played during the same weekday time period, (and a large Regina
changer which isn't played).

I asked the docent if the Smithsonian had a large collection of
mechanical music in their various warehouses.  He replied that it was
a very small collection -- some music boxes, organettes, the few
players on exhibit -- and that unfortunately, the museum hasn't shown
much interest in mechanical music.

I think this is a real shame; it would have been nice if the Smith-
sonian had purchased some items from the Disney collection, for
instance.  That way, instead of them going into private collections,
unseen by the public, they could have been displayed (and played) in
a venue where more folks could have learned about the wonders and
pleasures of our hobby!  Oh well....

If you ever find yourself in DC on a weekday at lunch time, I urge
you to stop by the museum, and keep your fingers crossed that the
instruments will be played!

Jim Canavan
Alexandria, VA
cybrflash@aol.com