MUSICALLY, MADE IN NEW JERSEY
WHEN: now through October 18, 2015
WHERE: Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Rd., Morristown
Beginning this June, the Morris Museum will present a new exhibition that explores the prominent role played by New Jersey manufacturers in the early music industry, featuring more than a dozen mechanical musical instruments and other related objects.
By 1885, New Jersey was the musical box manufacturing center for the United States, if not the western world. There were no less than six manufacturing companies located in Rahway, Jersey City, Bradley Beach and Hoboken. These companies employed hundreds of workers and produced several hundred thousand instruments. The mechanical musical instruments manufactured in New Jersey introduced new audio technology to the masses. (Image: Reginaphone, Style 171, 1908, Regina Music Box Company, Rahway, NJ. Image courtesy of Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey)
Musically, Made in New Jersey includes a 1908 Reginaphone by the Rahway based Regina Music Box Company. This hybrid machine plays both punched metal discs and 78rpm records. The exhibition also features a Capital “cuff” Music Box by F. G. Otto and Sons of Jersey City. This unique instrument includes perforated metal cones on a rotating mandrel. Also represented are mechanical musical instruments manufactured by the Aeolian Company of Garwood, the Symphonion Manufacturing Company of Bradley Beach, the American Music Box Company of West New York and Hoboken, and others.
“The Morris Museum, through this exhibit, will be the first institution to ever shine a spotlight on the mechanical music industry that made New Jersey it’s “home” during the very late 1800’s and into the early twentieth century.” Said Jeremie Ryder, Conservator of the Guinness Collection. “Virtually nowhere else in the United States was such a tremendous pool of talented engineers, machinists, musicians and craftsmen, who together with the entrepreneurial spirit, supplied the masses with music from around the world.”
Musically, Made in New Jersey features instruments selected from the Museum’s Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata, one of the most significant collections of its kind in the world. The exhibition also includes objects lent by the Museum of Music Box Society International, Altenburg Piano House, and other private collections.
In conjunction with Musically, Made in New Jersey the Morris Museum will hold the following program. Further program and ticket information is available by calling 973.971.3706 or online at morrismuseum.org.
Guinness Spotlight: New Jersey Music Makers
WHEN: Thursday, July 16, 6:30pm
TICKETS: $7 Members/$9 Non-Members.
The Guinness Collection staff invites you to explore the New Jersey mechanical music industry, and enjoy a curator’s tour of the featured exhibit, Musically, Made in New Jersey.
(Image: Capital Music Box, Style C, c1895-97, F.G. Otto & Sons, Jersey City, NJ. Image courtesy of Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey.)
About the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection
In 2003, the Morris Museum was awarded the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of 750 historic mechanical musical instruments and automata (mechanical figures) and more than 5,000 programmed media, ranging from player piano rolls to pinned cylinders. Highlights of the collection are displayed in a spectacular 4,300 square foot permanent exhibition Musical Machines & Living Dolls: Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata from the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection. This interactive exhibition features more than 150 pieces from this extraordinary collection and takes visitors on a journey through the history of on-demand musical entertainment. Viewable storage provides visitors with broader access to the balance of the collection.
About the Morris Museum
Founded in 1913, the Morris Museum is an award-winning, community-based arts and cultural institution which serves the public through high caliber exhibitions in the arts, sciences and humanities. The Museum also offers educational programs, family events, and is home to the Bickford Theatre and its wide range of performing arts offerings. Continuously serving the public since 1913, the Morris Museum has been designated a Major Arts Institution and has received the New Jersey State Council on the Arts’ Citation of Excellence, among other awards. The first museum in New Jersey to be accredited, the Morris Museum was re-accredited in 2013 by the American Alliance of Museums.
The Morris Museum is a Blue Star Museum, offering free admission to active duty military personnel and their families, from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Location & Hours
The Museum is located at 6 Normandy Heights Road (at the corner of Columbia Turnpike) in Morristown, NJ, and is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11:00am to 5:00pm and Sunday, 12:00 to 5:00pm. In addition, the Museum is open evenings from 5:00 to 8:00pm on the second and third Thursday of the month. Admission to the Museum is $10 for adults and $7 for children, students and senior citizens. Admission is always free for Museum members. For more information, call (973) 971-3700, or visit www.morrismuseum.org.
