Popular Music in 1926

1926 ... it was a very good year.
Did you know that in 1926 tbe QRS Piano Roll Company sold over TEN MILLION rolls?

Piano Rolls were big business and we have a wonderful collection of them at the American Treasure Tour!
You can see paper rolls, cardboard rolls, even a brass music roll.

But the best part is you can HEAR the beautiful music these piano rolls make! 

Make a reservation today!

Word Roll

What is a WORD ROLL??? ... sounds like a scrabble game.

In fact,  some piano rolls were made with words written on the side so that you could sing along with the music. These are called word rolls. 
At the American Treasure Tour, we have over 300,000 pieces of original music.

Come hear our piano rolls play .... Make your reservation today! (610) 551-1629

Calliope

A Calliope is an automatic music machine mostly made and used in America before the advent of electricity used to play recorded music. These steam powered machines originally played music through train whistles. 

A true American Treasure and we have one at our tour.
Calliopes could be extremely loud and made mainly for outdoor use.  Our tour is SO HUGE, we have
one INSIDE.  Come hear it play!

Barrels of Fun!

At the American Treasure Tour ... you will have barrels of fun!

BUT our barrels are a little different.  Ours are musical.

A barrel is a pinned cylinder usually made of wood on which a musical composition is programmed for used in a nickelodeon, player piano or organ.

For a barrel of fun, book a tour today! phone: (610) 551-1629

Real American Treasure: Scott Joplin

photo courtesy of:  http://www.visitmyarkansas.com

Scott Joplin (1867-1917) traveled and played with a number of musical groups in the 1890's. Around the turn of the century, he composed the "Maple Leaf Rag." He later worked on a ballet, and by 1902, the style of his compositions was officially dubbed, "Ragtime." 

Perhaps his most famous tune was "The Entertainer." Joplin's music was recorded for the phonograph and often made into rolls for nickelodeons like the ones you can hear at The American Treasure Tour.

Thanks to http://www.usa-hero.com for lots of great information on US Heros!

Band Organ

The delightful sounds of a Wurlitzer Band Organ you can hear many times over at the American Treasure Tour....

Get Cranked

Are you cranked?

Our music boxes at the American Treasure Tour are hand-cranked ~ music before electricity!

Don't be cranky, come visit the American Treasure Tour!  You'll go away with a smile on your face for sure!

Today's Treasure; Music Box Roll

Take a look inside some of our antique music boxes. 

make sure to look very close at the little things when you visit the American Treasure Tour

Notice the tiny bronze men sitting in the box to "play the music"

for more information about antique music boxes, see the Music Box Society International 

Real American Treasure: John Phillip Sousa

photo courtesy of religiousliberty.tv

John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932) is best known for composing the famous patriotic tune, "Stars and Stripes Forever." Shortly after he wrote the song, the phonograph was introduced to American Homes. Sousa's work quickly became very famous. 

He was later asked to train musicians for the US Navy band. During his work in the Navy he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Sousa's famous compositions have played on hundreds of mechanical music machines like the ones you can see at the American Treasure Tour.

Late 19th Century Music Boxes

Music Boxes?!?! These are a lot different than a modern music box with a twirling ballerina! The foremost one in the above image is also a clock made by Seth Thomas with a Regina music works, but the others pictured here are not timepieces-- just fabulous large style music boxes. Many of these were made in the 1870's.

Notice the ornate decoration and wood work on the cases! The large disc inside turns, and the perforated disc runs over a metal "comb" to play the music. Many of these machines were coin operated for commercial use in restaurants, taverns, and hotels.

In a time when machines this big were made just to play one song at a time, this item was a real innovation: an automatic three disc changer! Remember when the CD changer was the hottest thing since sliced bread? Can you imagine if each of your CDs was about 18 inches across and only played one song?

Moving Day ...

Today at the American Treasure Tour we had a bit of a remodel in the Nickelodeon Room so that we could add more mechanical music for our visitors to hear.  Here we see Mark Chester in the background with Marlin Douglass and Joe Helferty in the foreground moving a "red key" Wurlitzer Nickelodeon.  The transformation is complete and we are ready for this week's tour groups.  Shout out to Jay Kreider for the new electrical work and thanks also to Seth Gammache who did all the technical work to make these instruments play at the touch control of our iPads.  There is always something new to see in our 100,000 square feet.

Tours by reservation.  Group size, minimum of fifteen people.

For more information: http://americantreasuretour.com/