With all the articles of late concerning collections being given to
institutions either private or public, I am writing this article to
give another example of how inaccessible a collection can become when
it merely sits in storage and is not being made available to interested
parties.

When the B.A.B. Organ Company master rolls were bought by Senator
Bovey of Virginia City, Montana, only a small portion were taken out by
Oswald Wurdeman and recut for the enjoyment of others.  The remaining
master rolls were left in storage and, although several attempts have
been made to peruse those rolls, the powers that see over the collection
have not made them available to historians or others who would like to
have those rolls reproduced and made available for playing on organs
that would play the rolls.

The curator of the collection in Virginia City has been more than kind
and he made available to me the results of an inventory he completed
about two years ago.  But that's about as far as it goes.  It may be
next to impossible to ever have those several hundred master rolls
copied for the enjoyment of others.  From the inventory I received,
it would appear that a virtual treasure trove exists but is not being
made available for the enjoyment of others.  This is truly a sad state
of affairs.

George Karpel
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

 [ Found at http://www.montanaheritagecommission.com/CommDescrip.asp 
 [
 [ "The [Montana State] Legislature also created the Montana Heritage
 [ Commission to manage these properties [the Bovey Restoration
 [ properties in Virginia City and Nevada City] and, possibly, other
 [ historic sites within Montana.  The Commission's mandates are to
 [ protect the buildings and the artifacts and to make the sites
 [ economically self-sufficient."
 [
 [ -- Robbie