Carhart, Needham & Co. Reed Organ (Melodeon)
name: label: unspecified
content: Worch, Hugo
notes: label: Description
content: <p>This reed organ was made by made by Carhart, Needham & Co. in New York, New York, in 1864. It is a piano style melodeon with a rosewood case, 2 keyboards, with a compass of FF - f3, top keyboard 4', lower keyboard 8', and a coupler. The instrument is stenciled above the keyboards:</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Carhart, Needham & Co.<br>New York</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Carhart Patent, July 1st 1856</p>
label: Description
content: <p>In 1846, Jeremiah Carhart (1813-1868) and Elias Parkham Needham (1812-1889) established the Carhart & Needham Organ Company. The company made organs and melodeons. Carhart had previously learned the trade form George A. Prince of Buffalo, New York. In 1855, Samuel C. Swartz joined the firm which was reorganized as “Carhart, Needham & Company.” Swartz died in 1865, and the firm returned to “Carhart & Needham.” After Carhart’s death in 1868, Needham’s son joined the firm which became “E. P. Needham & Son.”</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Carhart is credited with many U. S. patents for the melodeon. This instrument features U.S. Patent #15218 dated July 1, 1856, by Jeremiah Carhart for an improvement in melodeons.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Organs
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hugo Worch
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MI.315702
label: catalog number
content: 315702
label: accession number
content: 58488
objectType: label: Object Name
content: organ (melodeon)
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: rosewood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ivory (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 35 in x 47 in x 25 in; 88.9 cm x 119.38 cm x 63.5 cm