(Patrick Hutchinson asked that this be posted on C&F)
The Library of Congress is pleased to announce the online release of a
revised and expanded presentation of the Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection
available on the American Memory Web site at:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/dcmhtml
This revision includes the addition of nearly 1,700 images of flutes and 90
detailed views, enhanced by use of the MrSID format, and a sampling of
associated items from Dr. Miller’s iconography and photography collections.
An extraordinary individual, Dayton C. Miller devoted much of his life to
collecting primary source material about the history and development of the flute.
Dr. Miller planned to establish his archive of flute memorabilia at
the Library of Congress and become the first curator of the collection,
although he died before achieving this goal.
Comprising nearly 1,700 flutes and other instruments, statuary,
iconography, books, music, tutors, patents, and other materials mostly
related to the flute, the Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection draws its
holdings from all over the world and represents the work of at least 460
European and American instrument makers. Its highlights include 40 flutes
from the workshops of Theobald Boehm, Rudolph Greve and Carl Mendler,
Munich; a flute (DCM 0916) that once belonged to King Frederick II of
Prussia, designed by his teacher, Joachim Quantz; numerous flutes from the
respected house of Rudall Carte, in London; 17 crystal flutes by Claude
Laurent of Paris, one (DCM 0378) made in 1813 and presented to U.S.
President James Madison; a 22-karat gold flute (DCM 0010) designed and
made primarily by Dayton C. Miller himself between 1902 and 1905;
more than 130 Native North and South American flutes; seventeenth-to-
eighteenth-century jade examples from China; an elegantly decorated
early-eighteenth-century oboe (DCM 0158) by Hendrik Richters,
Amsterdam; and an early-nineteenth-century ivory clarinet in D (DCM 0443).
Recent additions include an early-twentieth-century silver Boehm system
flute by William Meinell, New York, with original case; a pair of silver
clarinets (A and B-flat) by William S. Haynes, Boston, with original case,
from late in the first quarter of the twentieth century; a seventeen-keyed
bassoon, from an anonymous late-nineteenth-century maker; and a
soprano sarrusophone (DCM 1479) made by Buffet-Crampon, Paris, ca.
1920 with original case.
American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the
history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 8
million digital items from more than 120 historical collections.
Please submit any questions you may have using the American Memory web form at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-memory2.html
