WANTED: Floor-model Amberola for Edison's Music Room

[Jerry Fabris]

Thomas Edison National Historical Park seeks to acquire, via purchase or donation, a floor-model Edison Amberola cylinder phonograph in excellent or very good condition. (A table-top Amberola is not needed.) This phonograph will be placed in the Music Room of Edison's West Orange Laboratory. It will be used daily for educational programs, to play cylinder records for the general public, school groups, and other visitors.

The park prefers not to pay for shipping, so we hope to find a machine that is located within a one-day driving distance from West Orange, New Jersey, for pick-up in the park's van. Please contact Jerry Fabris, Museum Curator at email <[email protected]>, or telephone 973-736-0550, ext. 48.

Jerry Fabris, Museum Curator
Thomas Edison National Historical Park
National Park Service
United States Department of the Interior
211 Main Street, West Orange, New Jersey 07052
tel: (973) 736-0550, ext. 48
email: [email protected]

[JerryVan]

Sorry Jerry, I can't help you out this time. I will say however, that I donated a Columbia phonograph to the museum some years back. It is, (I believe), still on display in the music room. I must say, Jerry was fantastic, personally visiting my home to pick the machine up. It was also hugely gratifying to contribute to the museum in this way. If you can help Jerry out, please consider doing so. It's a rewarding experience for all!

[Jerry Fabris]

Hi Jerry VanO- Thanks for saying hello, and thank you for your kind words! Yes, the Columbia Grafonola 100 that you donated in 2010 is still on display as part of the historic furnishings of Edison's Music Room. We had it professionally conserved in 2015, and it looks great! It is a permanent fixture in the Music Room, and I expect that it will remain there for a very, very long time, because it is an almost exact match for the same model appearing in the 1917 historic photo of the room.

This floor-model Amberola we seek currently will be part of the park's "teaching collection." It will be used to demonstrate playback of cylinder records for visitors to the park. We will place it in front of the room, so visitors can get an up-close look and listen.

-Jerry Fabris, Thomas Edison NHP

[JerryVan]

Wow, great to hear that it's been conserved and is doing well!

A bucket list item for me is to visit the site some day. Wow, 2010, amazing how time flies.

[Jerry B.]

I'm curious, what does "professionally conserved" mean when it comes to a talking machine that is used regularly?

Thanks, Jerry Blais

[Jerry Fabris]

JB wrote: > what does "professionally conserved" mean when it comes to a talking machine that is used regularly?

We wouldn't conserve a machine that is used regularly, we'd have it restored. We make a distinction between "restoration" and "conservation". For phonographs, that relates to whether or not the phonograph will be used hands-on for playing records, or for static hands-off display.

Conservation: In the Music Room, for example, we have the room furnished to look like a 1917 historic photo. Four phonographs appear in this photo, so we have four of the same models placed in the room according to their location in the photo. Those four phonographs are treated like historic artifacts, hands-off, white gloves. The goal is long-term preservation. They are part of the "museum collection." In 2015, we had these four machines "conserved" (including the Columbia Grafonola 100) -- meaning, a detailed cleaning and stabilization of materials. This conservation work did not deal at all with making the phonograph mechanism work, but made the machines look better and stabilized the materials, with no swapping-out of any original parts. Professional conservators have an education in chemistry, so they understand how a treatment will effect an object long-term.

Restoration: We have a few phonographs at the park that we use for playing records, hands-on, to demonstrate the mechanics and sound of the machine and records. We try to find nice machines for this purpose, but not unique or rare. Those machines we have "restored". The goal with restoration is to make the machine look good, work properly, sound good. These phonographs are part of the "teaching collection". Teaching collection objects get worn through use and handling. We don't avoid replacing parts, as needed, for restorations.

This Amberola that we would like to acquire will be part of the Teaching Collection, used to play records for visitors. So, we'll have it restored, rather than conserved.

-Jerry Fabris

[Jerry B.]

Thanks for explaining the difference between conservation and restoration. Jerry Blais