Sheridan Germann Papers
name: label: Artist
content: Germann, Sheridan
label: Donor
content: Germann, Richard W.
topic: label: Occupation
content: Restorers
label: Occupation
content: Musical instrument makers
label: Topic
content: Harpsichord
label: Topic
content: Harpsichord makers
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Instruments -- Musical instruments
label: Topic
content: Keyboard instruments
label: Topic
content: Keyboard instruments -- Manufacturing
label: Topic
content: Decorations
label: Topic
content: Floral decorations
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated to the Archives Center by Richard W. Germann, husband of Sheridan Germann, in November 2024.
creator: label: Artist
content: Germann, Sheridan
setName: label: See more items in
content: Sheridan Germann Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents the artistic work and research of Sheridan Germann an acclaimed scholar of historical harpsichords.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Sheridan Germann, acclaimed scholar of historical harpsichords and a painter who decorated many restored instruments, also served as an authenticator, lecturer, consultant, and restorer. She was born Kathleen Sheridan Biays to Benjamin Hodges Biays Jr. (April 2, 1911-November 20, 1958) and Edith Elizabeth Tuckerman (July 24,1913-August 24, 1998) on July 22, 1935, in Washington, District of Columbia.  Her mother, the renown painter Else Tuckerman, was a founding member of the American Academy of Equine Art, taught painting workshops at its school in Lexington, Kentucky, and for more than fifty years created privately commissioned oil paintings of thoroughbreds, fox hunts, and other equestrian events.  

Germann attended the National Cathedral School (NCS), an independent private day school for girls, located on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. In the 1950 and 1951 yearbooks Germann is identified as S. Biays and is photographed with the Art Club and the class of 1952.  At the age of 16, while still a student, she married Phelps Hunt on December 29, 1951, in Arlington, Virginia.  The Hunts eventually moved to New York City.  Germann received formal training as a painter at the Rhode Island School of Design.  At the age of twenty-four she married Richard Wolf Germann on January 3, 1959, in Bethesda, Maryland and moved to Boston, Massachusetts as early as 1960.  Germann is identified as an editor from 1960-1966 in Boston area directories.  By 1971 she is working as an artist and is painting as many as twenty-two sound boards a year. Her professional training and work included an apprenticeship with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and four months' work in Paris, France on a commission for the harpsichord builder Reinhard Von Nagel.  Aside from her artistic work Germann published three books including Early Keyboard Instruments: A Bibliography, Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, by Sheridan Germann and Paul Guglietti, 1992; Keyboard Musical Instruments in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (153rd Edition), by John Koster, John T. Kirk, Sheridan Germann, and Stephen Korbet, 1994; and Historical Harpsichord, volume four: Harpsichord Decoration and the Yale Taskin - A Monograph Series in Honor of Frank Hubbard by Sheridan Germann, Richard Rephann, Howard Schott (Editor), Pendragon Press, and Frank Hubbard, 2002. Germann died in 2021 at the age of eighty-six.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 4 Cubic feet (8 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1964-2004, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1606
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Color slides
label: Type
content: Notes
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Color prints (photographs)
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged in three series.

Series 1, Research Notebooks, 1971-1986, undated

Series 2, Photographic Prints, 1971-2004, undated

Series 3, Color Slides, 1964-1994
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection is arranged in three series.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Color slides
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs
label: Genre/Form
content: Color prints (photographs) -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 1970-1980 -- Color slides
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes -- 20th century
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution


Dowd Harpsichord Collection, NMAH.AC.0593

Hubbard Harpsichord Records, NMAH.AC.1256

John R. Anderson Piano Trade Literature and Ephemera Collection, NMAH.AC.1257

John Challis Papers, NMAH.AC.1375

Hugo Worch Piano Photographs, NMAH.AC.1452

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution


J. Scott Odell Folk Music Collection, CFCH.ODEL

Cook Labs Records, 1908-2002, CFCH.COOK

Monitor Records Business Records, CFCH.MONI

Ralph Rinzler Papers and Audio Recordings, CFCH.RINZ

Moses and Frances Asch Collection, CFCH.ASCH

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Smithsonian Institution


Record Unit 485, National Museum of American History, Division of Musical History Records, SIA.FARU0485

Accession T90055, Smithsonian Institution, Division of Performing Arts, Records, SIA.FAT90055

Record Unit 591, Smithsonian Institution, Office of Telecommunications, Productions, SIA.FARU0591

Accession 07-142, National Museum of American History, Division of Music, Sports, and Entertainment, Curatorial Records, SIA.FA07-142

Division of Cultural and Community Life (formerly the Division of Culture and the Arts), National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Single manual harpsichord, unknown maker, late 19th-early 20th century, accession number 227687

English single manual harpsichord, unknown maker,  accession number 65928

Dowd double manual harpsichord, accession number 2009.0229

Dowd double manual harpsichord, accession number 1980.0274

Skowroneck double manual harpsichord, accession number 2009.0240

Albana single manual harpsichord, accession number 84841

Italian single manual harpsichord, accession number 93944

Italian single manual harpsichord, accession number 84841

Italian single manual harpsichord, accession number 84841

Italian single manual harpsichord, accession number 84841

Pleyel double manual harpsichord, accession number 67337

Querci single manual harpsichord, accession number 84841

Ridolfi single manual harpsichord, accession number 26256

Pfeiffer double manual harpsichord, acmrd, accession number 65928

Italian Transverse, single manual harpsichord, accession number 227687

De Quoco single manual harpsichord, accession number 26256

Clavicytherium harpsichord, accession number 227687

Chickering & Sons double manual harpsichord, accession number 1980.0020

Shudi double manual harpsichord, accession number 65118