Hi Phil,  I was very interested to see your question forwarded to our
list, the Mechanical Music Digest.  [Ref 990704 MMD, "The National
Automatic Piano Company", and the Empire State Theatre and Musical
Instrument Museum in Syracuse, NY.]  I haven't been to the [New York]
state fair in awhile but I have seen the collection in the building
at the fairgrounds.

I also attended the last performance of the pipe organ you have,
before it was ripped out of the theater in downtown Syracuse.  In fact,
somewhere I have a recording of the concert.   After the concert, all
but one of the theaters in downtown Syracuse were ripped down to make
way for new department stores etc. to attract more business to the
downtown area.  If I remember correctly, the store which took the place
of two of the theaters (Rochester based Sibley's) was an eyesore from
the get-go and was soon bought out by a larger chain which eventually
sold the store to yet another, out-of-town group.  Last time I was
there, it looked closed.  Some improvement!

Standing in front of the theaters on Salina Street you could look south
and see the giant set of Deagan chimes on front of the 10th floor of
the Chimes Building (which were played by roll or by hand, hourly and
on special occasions, like when Syracuse University won a football
game).  Anyway, I drove within 100 feet of your operation a couple of
weeks ago* and would have stopped in to see if I could help in any way
had I known your interest.  So, drop me a note and give me an idea of
what you are looking for and I'll try to help out where I can.

Regards,
Craig Smith

 * A friend and I drove down to photograph and measure the Pennsylvania
GG-1 electric locomotive that is located just to the south of your
building.