The Collection now has over 1000 instruments. About 400 belong to the University, the remainder being deposited on long-term loan.
In the last year and a half the University has been given a number of instruments by Mr Lyndesay Langwill including "Mozart's Oboe" which was given him by Canon Galpin, and a small collection of Nigerian instruments by Mr W.H. Stevenson.
The C.H. Brackenbury Memorial collection has been lent by Mr Mark Brackenbury; this collection was formerly at Tweedhill near Berwick-on-Tweed. The brass instruments from the Mickleburgh Collection in Bristol, which were bought by Arnold Myers from Mr E. Roy Mickleburgh in 1980, have been lent to the University. Mrs V.M. Ross, widow of Andrew J. Ross who died in November 1980, has lent the Ross Collection, which includes many instruments from the Glen Collection. Some of these instruments had already been lent to the Collection while Andrew Ross was the proprietor of Messrs J. & R. Glen; the rest have been added recently together with a number of instrument-making tools.
The University has purchased 21 woodwind instruments from Mr Mickleburgh. Various other individuals have given or lent several other instruments in this period.
Work has started on cataloguing the Collection, and to date three check-lists have been produced.
The Collection has been used for teaching purposes by the University of Edinburgh and the Open University and for research by a number of musicians, instrument makers and students.
Arnold Myers, 6th December 1981
[ Report for 1982 ]
© Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, 1981.
This article was re-published on 23 December 2022