A Brief Introduction to
The Musical Courier.
By Peter H. Adams.
Beginning on January 1, 1880, The Musical and Sewing Machine Gazette began publication in New York City. By its third volume, it had split into two publications and changed its name. Thus, The Musical Courier was born. It editor’s goal was to be the premiere trade publication for the musical instrument industry. The publication was basically divided into two sections. The first section consisted of concert reviews and reports. The second section consisted of current news pertinent to the U.S. musical instrument industry, editorials, and advertisements from major and many minor musical instrument manufacturers. Scattered throughout both sections were articles covering a wide range of topics, such as women’s rights, African American musicians, dance, the rise of Nazi Germany, and music history of Europe and the U.S. (composers, patents, musical instrument collections, changes in musical taste, libraries, etc.). This publication regularly reprinted articles written by scholars and commissioned others. This publication also printed comical articles either lampooning questionable activities or generally poking fun at the industry.
The Musical Courier printed the following articles discussing musical instrument collections. The articles are presented in no specific order and without corrections or modifications. Spelling is taken from the articles.