Effective with this year's meeting, membership in MBSI is _not_
required to attend.  Members of our many sister organizations are
cordially invited!  The meeting will be held August 29th to September
3rd and based at the Hanover Marriott hotel in Whippany, New Jersey.

This year's theme for the society's annual gathering of mechanical
music enthusiasts is "Music Made in New Jersey," and the organizing
East Coast Chapter is planning to deliver quite the experience.
The Morris Museum, in Morristown, which features the permanent
"Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Music and Automata,"
will be open to attendees of the meeting all four days with a paid
registration.  On Thursday, the museum will host for a reception with
catered buffet and tours of the various displays.

A choice of three optional full-day tours on Wednesday and Thursday
includes the Arnold Chase Collection in West Hartford, Connecticut,
which features more than 50 orchestrions and band organs.  A second
option on Wednesday or Thursday is a trip to American Treasure Tour
in Oaks, Pennsylvania, where, in addition to the 53 disc music boxes
and 79 cylinder music boxes in the MBSI collection, automata and other
automatic musical curiosities.  Tours of the Herb Singe Collection and
the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey, are the
third optional tour for Wednesday and Thursday.

The Singe Collection is housed in a 5,000-square foot museum and
treats you to the sights and sounds of street organs, table-top music
boxes, and possibly the world's oldest Wurlitzer band organ.  Antique
cars, motorcycles, antique toys, miniature race cars and model airplane
engines will also be on display.  The Edison Historic Site provides
visitors a glimpse into the working life of one of the most prolific
inventors of his time, Thomas Edison.

Friday is workshop day where fifteen speakers are scheduled to present
on topics covering how to make a new cylinder music box from scratch
to how to safely share your collection with the public so the joy of
mechanical music can spread to new generations.

Saturday includes a private mart and our banquet dinner where a special
table favor will be given to each attendee.  There will also be open
houses on Sunday after the meeting at several local collector's homes
to see some private collections.

For a full description, please visit the MBSI web site, download the
registration packet and send in your registration form now:

  http://mbsi.org/ 

Bill & Carolee Wineburgh, Registrars
mbsi2017@yahoo.com.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]