Museum Artifact: Tonk Sterling Shankless Trumpet, c. 1920s
Made By: Tonk Brothers Company (Distributor), 623 S. Wabash Ave., connected with Tonk MFG Co., 2028 N. Clybourn Ave., Chicago, IL
In a 1966 interview with Life magazine, jazz legend Louis Armstrong told the tale of the first horn he ever bought as a young boy in New Orleans, circa 1916:
“I couldn’t get enough money together to even talk about a horn of my own— used to rent one for each gig,” he recalled.
Museum Artifacts: QRS Player Piano “Autograph Word Roll” #340 – “Forever is a Long Long Time,” 1916
Made By: The Q-R-S Company, 412 Fine Arts Building – Factory at 4829 S. Kedzie Ave.
“Up to the advent of the Q-R-S Autograph Roll all player piano music rolls were much alike—all made the same mechanical way. . . The Q.R.S. Autograph Music Roll is hand played—it is practically a photographic record of the hand playing of an artist.
Museum Artifact: Shure 708A Stratoliner Crystal Microphone, 1940s
Made By: Shure Brothers, Inc., 225 West Huron Street, Chicago, IL
“We know very well that absolute perfection cannot be attained, but we will never stop striving for it.” —Sidney N. Shure, founder of Shure Brothers, Inc.
Introduced in 1940, the “Stratoliner” microphone in our museum collection finds the world famous Shure,
Museum Artifact: Deagan 4-Bar Dinner Chime Bells & Mallet, 1920s
Made By: J. C. Deagan Inc., 1770 W. Berteau Ave., Chicago, IL
“When you summon your guests to the dining room with a Deagan Dinner Chime, your invitation is carried to their ears by the sweetest musical sound in the world. At once compelling, yet entrancingly beautiful, it carries with it the spirit of hospitality,
Museum Artifact: Industrial Signal Horn Siren, 1920s
Made By: Benjamin Electric MFG Co., 120-128 S. Sangamon St., Chicago, IL and Des Plaines, IL
“The clear, powerful tones of Benjamin Signals are preventing lost calls, lost time, and costly interruptions the country over. To the farthermost corners of the greatest plants they shout the call for attention, finding the wanted man wherever he may be.
Museum Artifact: Hallicrafters Model 5R34A Continental Radio, 1952
Made By: Hallicrafters Company, 4401 W. Fifth Ave., Chicago, IL
“For radio equipment that won’t be satisfied with the limits of the pre-war world, for radio that will go places and do things hitherto undreamed of and uncharted—look to Hallicrafters, builders of the radio man’s radio.”—Hallicrafters magazine advertisement, 1944
William J.
Museum Artifacts: Fidelitone Master and Supreme Phonograph Needles and All-Groove Needle Counter Display, 1950s
Made By: Permo, Inc. / Fidelitone, Inc., 6415 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL
Still in business today and headquartered just an hour north of Chicago in the small town of Wauconda, Illinois (Wauconda Forever!), Fidelitone Inc. is technically the same company that Arthur J. Olsen started way back in 1929,
Museum Artifact: Admiral Deluxe Table Radio, 1955
Made by: Admiral Corp., 3800 West Cortland Street, Chicago, IL
“Here’s a radio you’ll get a tremendous thrill out of owning! So smart, with its golden-mesh metal grille and dial . . . so contrasting in choice of Ivory, Beige, Green or Mahogany cabinet colors. So low-priced for the performance it gives! This is the new radio you have been looking for!”
Museum Artifact: Hammond Organ Generator Oil Can, 1960s
Made By: Hammond Organ Co., 4200 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago, IL
“Smaller than a piano, a midget in comparison with the vast pipe organs of traditional style, yet capable of 253 million different tones; this is the electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond of Chicago.” —Popular Mechanics, April 1936
It’s hard to say how a musical instrument capable of producing millions of different tones could simultaneously be “distinctive”
Museum Artifact: Seeburg Music System “Wall-O-Matic” Selector Jukebox, Type WI-L56, c. 1947
Made By: J. P. Seeburg Corp., 1500 N. Dayton St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Roy Smeck Soprano Ukulele, c. 1950s
Made By: The Harmony Company, 3633 S. Racine Ave., Chicago, IL
For about 80 years, Chicago’s Harmony Company consistently ranked among the largest producers of stringed instruments in the world. Unfortunately, when we’re talking about “the arts,” such a legacy of quantity can often presume a deficiency in quality—warranted or not.
Museum Artifact: “Introducing The Beatles” Vinyl LP, 1964
Made By: Vee-Jay Records, Inc., 1449 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL
To a serious record collector, the copy of Introducing… The Beatles in our museum collection probably wouldn’t appear all that special. It is, after all, a non-mint example of the second and considerably more common version of the album,
Museum Artifact: 8 Issues of DownBeat Magazine, 1964-1968
Made By: Maher Printing Co. / Maher Publications, 205 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Ludwig Universal Speed Master Bass Drum Pedal, 1960s
Made By: Ludwig Drum Co., 1728 N. Damen Ave., Chicago, IL
The night that famously marked a sea change in American pop culture—the Beatles’ 1964 performance on the Ed Sullivan Show—was also the dawning of a new golden age at a certain musical instrument factory in Wicker Park.
Before that night,
Museum Artifact: Rock-Ola Hi-Fidelity 120 Wall Box, 1953
Made By: Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp., 800 North Kedzie Avenue, Chicago, IL
It’s one of the quintessential brand names of American pop culture. Rock-Ola—a word that celebrates and encapsulates both the rock n’ roll explosion of the jukebox’s 1950s golden age and the historic roots of the classic “Victrola” talking machines.
Museum Artifact: “Improved Own Make” Cornet, c. 1919
Made By: Lyon & Healy, 4100 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
