You may recall the note the I wrote about a barrel organ I am restoring
that was made in Mirecourt, France [010130 MMDigest].  I was asking for
help in determining the tuning scale.

I did not receive any input from the members of MMD but I did get
several notes from Robbie Rhodes with suggestions and with the name
of a MMD member in France who is involved with France barrel organs,
especially those made in Mirecourt.  This was Francoise Dussour.  With
their encouragement I was able to determine the tuning scale and also
to decode the music into a MIDI file and play the tunes.  All this in
spite of the fact that the pipes for this organ are mostly destroyed.
I can now reconstruct the pipes and start restoration of the organ.

While discussing the Mirecourt organs I learned about the records of
this firm, "Poirot Freres", and other Poirot companies that went back
five generations.  This include Denis Poirot, who built my organ.

All the documents were sold to a French dealer (Alain Vian from Paris)
and sold again later, perhaps to someone in America.  We do not know
who bought them or where they are today.

Since this is a very large, world-wide forum, I would like to ask
the group if anyone knows what happened to these records and also,
if anyone has any pictures or other information about Poirot organs or
other organs from Mirecourt.  If someone can supply some information,
I might find the information I need to finish the organ and Francoise
might find more information about the Mirecourt organ builders.

Please do not ignore this request by thinking that someone else in the
group will answer these questions.  This usually results in nobody
responding and a complete lack of information.  Thank you very much for
whatever information you can provide.

Regards,
Craig Smith

 [ See the nice history by Francoise, "French Military Band Organs",
 [ in 981107 MMDigest.  She notes that the finest and best decorated
 [ band organs were made by the Poirot brothers.  -- Robbie