Melville Andrews made this violin from a collapsed Bangor bridge, with a spruce top, and two pieces of American maple on the back. "Guarnerius Model" is written inside the instrument’s body.
Patterns for Guarnerius style violins come from early master violin makers, the Guarneri family, from Italy in the1600s. For centuries afterward, violin makers like Andrews copied the style.
Melville Andrews made his living leading bands, teaching music, and crafting violins in Bangor. He played in the 12th Maine Regiment band during the American Civil War.
In mid-19th century Maine, music flourished through the efforts of individual musicians and local musical groups, especially bands. Here, Thompson proudly displayed his over-the-shoulder soprano horn, a band instrument of the period.
Originally from Jay, and later Greene, Maine, William Bergeron’s (1892-1947) parents were Franco from Quebec. Photographers often made portraits showing the sitter with the tools of their work, or sometimes used props. In this case, Bergeron might have played the banjo professionally, though it is not a traditional instrument in Franco music.
Calvin Edwards & Co. built this piano in Portland at their studio on the corner of Middle and Lime (Market Street as of 2024) streets, where they operated as early as 1844. Calvin Edwards's studio created instruments including pianos, organs, and melodeons, which he also tuned and repaired from 1833 to 1866. Smaller than a modern grand piano with horizontal strings running diagonally across the instrument, people in the Victorian era used upright square pianos for small gatherings in the home.
Calvin Edwards made pipe organs in Gorham before moving to Portland, where he operated Portland's first piano factory with Moses Clark, called The Portland Pianoforte Manufactory. They operated on Lime Street from 1833 to 1836, when they moved to Exchange Street. The Maine Charitable Mechanics awarded a gold medal to Clark & Edwards for a piano entered in the Mechanics's fair in 1838, competing against manufacturers such as Chickering. William G. Twombly apprenticed with Clark & Edwards in Portland after learning to make pianos in Boston, and made the wooden case of the award-winning piano.
By 1844, Edwards & Co. transferred their piano business back to Lime Street, on the corner of Middle Street. Moses Clark died in 1847, and William Twombly, whom had been traveling across the United States, joined the company. Advertisements in the Portland Press Herald show the business there in 1848.
In 1858, about the same time Edwards created this piano, an advertisement noted Edwards & Co. specialized in instruments, “of style of finish and tone unsurpassed by any made in the country, constantly for sale.” By October of 1864, William Twombly joined Calvin Edwards as a partner in piano manufacturing at a new location at 337 Congress Street in Portland.
The Great Fire of Portland destroyed the piano studio in 1866. In November, 1866, Calvin Edwards and William Twombly dissolved the firm Calvin Edwards & Co.
William H. Atkinson (1844-1929) from Limington owned this side-blown flute, made by Charles G. Chritsman of New York. Atkinson served in the 17th Maine Regiment during the Civil War, where he played in the band. Written on a piece of paper glued to the interior of the flute is the name “Atkinson.”
The flute is one of the oldest and most widely used wind instruments. A typical Western design side-blown flute, the player holds this instrument to the side (transverse) and blows air across the mouth hole into the flute. Along with keys that cover finger holes, this creates a different, higher sound than Indigenous block flutes.
Born in Germany, Heinrich Eduard Baack immigrated to New York around 1832 where he began manufacturing and importing instruments as Edward Baack. Baack marked this flute, which disassembles in four pieces, with his signature, E. Baack.
Aeolian harps create music by wind moving over the strings. Named for Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of wind, the harps include a wooden box with a sounding board and strings stretched lengthwise across two bridges.
Cultures including China, Ethiopia, Europe, Greece, India, Indonesia, and Melanesia have ancient wind harp traditions. The Bible features Aeolian harps, likely the instrument which played by itself when King David held it to the wind.
This box zither-style Aeolian harp rose to popularity in Maine between 1800 to 1850.
