The Bagpipe Society

Bagpipes in Musical Instruments and their Homes

An insight into the nineteenth century musical instrument collector’s world

This article was initially published on 10 March 2023 for RILM's online blog, Bibliolore. This research was made possible through a fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art carried out in 2022-23

In 1888, Mary Elizabeth Brown sent out copies of her new catalogue, Musical instruments and Their Homes, to her many missionary friends across the world; they had helped her collect instruments from around the world, leading to an impressive collection of approximately 270 instruments, which she donated to the Metropolitan Museum in 1889 (Brown 2014). The subtitle of the catalogue reads: With Two hundred and seventy illustrations in pen and ink by WM. Adams Brown the whole forming a complete catalogue of the collection of musical instruments now in the possession of Mrs. J. Crosby Brown of New York.

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