Sorry to hear you had that experience at the Museum, until budget cuts forced the cutback to one day a month & even before the second floor was opened ten years ago they've had a paid staff on site to give very knowledgeable tours. One highlight for me was seeing & hearing the playing of an Auxeto phone, along with seeing a great collection of very important phonograph items other than Victor, including a Tin Foil machine, Edison C lass M, American Treadle Gramophone, Columbia Coin Op & a great advertising display a large Nipper collection & also a large assortment of toy phonographs. The second floor of the museum contains mostly the collection of the late Dr. Lynwood Heiges. Also I listed an incorrect phone # in my previous post the correct number is 302-739-4266 or 302-744-5055, use either one to schedual a tour, I apologize for the confusion !
----- Original Message ----- From: "John Maeder" <[email protected]> To: "Antique Phonograph List" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 9, 2009 9:32:22 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Johnson Victrola Museum Dover, DE I suppose they are closed so much because of budget cuts? I have only been there once in 2001. They share park rangers with the other two museums adjacent (a native American museum and a local historical museum). The ranger that gave the tour when I was there was more attuned to the native American museum and gave an incredibly garbled tour of the Johnson museum ("If they have horns they are called Gramophones, if they don't they are called Victrolas", etc.) I about bit my tongue in two before the tour was finished. I went away without a great deal of deeper insight into ERJ himself. The phonographs are wonderful, of course, but I really wanted to know more about ERJ as a person, and my visit did little for that. I think Son Fen had something a bit different in mind as a memorial to his dad. Even at that, I'm sorry to hear it is only open one day a week. I wish there could be a 'National Museum of Recorded Sound' endowed in perpetuity and set up as a 501(c)3 to collect, display, and interpret the development of the sound recording industry -- accurately and impressively -- once and for all. It would be a research center as well. In another 100 years, I think future generations would thank us. > Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 13:30:28 +0000 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Phono-L] Johnson Victrola Museum Dover, DE > > > > Update on The Johnson Victrola Museum, Dover Delaware. > > > > For anyone interested, The Johnson Victrola Museum is open only on the First > Saturday of the Month hours are 9:00 to 4:30 it's also open by appointment by > calling 302-739-4236 to schedule a visit it's great place to put on your list > with plenty to see & hear as some machines on display can be demonstrated. > > > > Regards, Jim G. > > > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
