Join the Organ Historical Society, receive all of the benefits mentioned below, and help this non-profit, educational organization in its many projects: the American Organ Archives - the world's largest collection of books and documents about the organ - housed at Westminster Choir College of Rider University; a list of historic American organs built prior to 1941; a concert series presented on historic organs located throughout North America; a preservation program that cites organs of exceptional historic and musical merit; the E. Power Biggs Fellowship that provides attendance at the OHS annual national convention for budding organ historians; a publishing program that includes books, compact discs, a quarterly journal, pamphlets, an annual Organ Handbook, Guidelines for Conservation & Restoration, and catalogs offering hundreds of organ and choral recordings, books about the organ, and sheet music. When you join, you will become a subscriber to our journal The Tracker which includes photographs and illustrations of organs, articles on organs and organbuilders, and information about restored organs and concerts given on them.
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OHS Handbook |
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The annual Organ Handbook, which thoroughly describes and illustrates the organs visited during the National Convention, is also included with your membership.The National Convention, one of the great joys of membership, features visits during a week to more than thirty old organs which are selected for outstanding historical and musical interest, with demonstrations and concerts played on them. Held in a different locality each year, the convention provides an opportunity for camaraderie among organ friends and visits to buildings and organs often not easily accessible. Recent conventions have been held in Central Maine, Kentuckiana, Connecticut, Ann Arbor-Detroit, Philadelphia, and Portland, Oregon.
As one of us, you will add to the Society's influence in preserving artistic instruments in original or new locations. The Society and its members have found new homes for more than a thousand old pipe organs by founding in 1959 the Organ Clearing House, which is now operated independently. These instruments, otherwise, might have been destroyed. Our members have also contributed significantly to original historical research. These accomplishments reflect the essence of the Society's purpose to encourage an increased appreciation of the fine organs which remain in our country today, and to advance the knowledge of the historical traditions in which they were created.