>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: On
behalf of the Music Division,
thank you all for coming today.
It may be fair to say that
Doctor Dayton C. Miller,
a scientist by profession, a
self-described flutist by fate,
and a collector above all,
gradually developed the
largest private collection
of diverse objects ever
assembled pertaining
to one subject in
the musical arts.
As Miller once wrote,
"The making collections is
a highly developed fine art,
and a science of
great antiquity.
For many years, the
writers made every effort,
with the assistance of many
friends in various parts
of the world, to gather all
available materials relating
to the flute, always proceeding
systematically and critically
for the purpose of setting forth
the history and development
of the modern flute
as an essential factor
in the fine art of music."
Recording his collections,
and the collecting
of his collections
in stunning detail,
and with steady perseverance,
Miller's self-titled,
The Dayton C. Miller Collections
Relating to the Flute,
comprised five separate
collections.
Flutes, books, music, works of
art, portraits, and autographs.
In 1941, the Library of
Congress accepted the gift
in its entirety.
Miller's bequest exemplifies the
relationship between collectors
and museums, whereby
the donation
of a private collector
can educate
and inspire the public
for perpetuity.
Who was this American collector,
who so strongly believed
that the history of the art
of music was an essential part
of civilization that his
flutes should be housed forever
in a national library?
Dayton Clarence Miller was born
in Strongsville, Ohio in 1866,
and lived in Cleveland, Ohio,
along with his wife, Edith,
his flute collection in his
office at the Physics Department
at Kay School of
Applied Science,
now called Case Western.
Miller was raised in nearby
Berea, Ohio, where his father,
Charles, who died in 1918, was
a fife-playing farmer, merchant,
and banker turned electric
traction executive,
while his mother
Vienna, who died in 1919,
was a church organist, and
his grandfather was a founding
trustee of Oberlin College.
Dayton Miller as a boy enjoyed
the sport of ladder climbing,
playing flute and piano,
bookkeeping, and making things
of tin in the family hardware
store, as well as gardening,
grape-stomping, and tending
the steam-driven sawmill
on the family farm.
By 1818, Miller's dual
interest in science
and music had emerged, laying
the foundation by fate,
apparently, of his burgeoning
collecting obsession.
Now, at 14 years
old, he played flute
in Berea's Schubert Orchestra,
built several telescopes,
and started, prophetically,
collecting science catalogs.
For his 1886 commencement
service, Miller gave a lecture
on the sun, and played
a flute solo.
Soon thereafter, Miller started
chasing comets, and in the span
of only a few years, his
science career would progress
with rapid speed as he
attained [inaudible] degrees
and recognition as America's
most popular scientist.
And, that is true up until 1919.
He was the most popular
scientist, and then,
of course, Einstein took over.
Miller entered Princeton
University in 1887
to study astronomy,
distinguishing himself in 1890
as the only one in his class
to receive a doctor of science.
He earned his degree for his
observations of the orbit
of the comet 18895, by employing
25 telescopes over the course
of three weeks, working
14 hours solid per day,
and logging over 200
pages of logarithms.
Also during this time, he had
returned to Berea in 1888,
to teach at Baldwin
Wallace College,
where he received a bachelor
and a master's of arts,
while also serving as department
chair in the natural sciences.
Miller would later in 1936
become president of the board
of trustees of Baldwin Wallace.
By 1893, he was married, and
assistant professor of physics
at Case, and chair by 1895.
While at Case for more
than four decades,
Doctor Miller had a
prolific research career,
studying the velocity of
light in magnetic fields,
the photography of bullets in
flight, sound waves, x-rays,
wireless telegraphy,
and ether drift,
and enjoyed an eminent
teaching career,
including departmental posts
in astronomy, mathematics,
physics, and acoustics.
Doctor Miller the acoustician
was a founding member
and second president of the
American Society of Acoustics.
He investigated the acoustics
of auditorium design and served
as an advisor on a number
of U.S. auditoriums
including the National Academy
of Sciences, Severance Hall, and
the chapels at Dennison College,
Bryn Mawr, and Princeton.
The convergence of
his scientific
and musical inquiries
led him to try
to identify the tonal
characteristics in qualities
in musical sounds, resulting
in his particularly note-worthy
1908 patent of the phonodeik,
a predecessor to
the oscilloscope.
It was-- the phonodeik
was devised
to record phonographically the
waves of musical instruments,
and the voice, among
other things.
Investigations with flutes of
differing material led Miller
to conclude that gold produced
overtones that were greater
in number and strength
than those of wood,
ivory, silver, or crystal.
Miller's studies in music, and
his achievements in acoustics,
only contributed
partially to the start
of his flute collection.
Also to blame were his radio
broadcasts on musical acoustics,
and his sub-career, replete
with his own booking agent,
on the international lecture
circuit, where he gave
over 70 lectures on
the topic of x-rays.
It is remarkable that in 1896,
his wife took a full-length set
of x-rays of him, which
he used as material
in his study and lectures.
According to his records, which
I have over here, his popular,
entertaining, and enthusiastic
lecture demonstrations,
of which there were over 500,
reached a total accumulated
audience of 100,000.
Even as late as 1931,
for example, as president
of the American Society of
Acoustics, he gave a lecture
that discussed the history
of the flute, its tone
and acoustics, and included
demonstrations of his own flute.
Eventually, Miller would
receive much acclaim
for his scientific endeavors.
And, I have some of
them listed here.
These are the honorary
degrees and board members.
Usually he was a
charting member.
And then, on the next page,
you'll see the numerous books,
articles, and these lectures
all provide ample evidence
of the scope of his
scientific researches and later,
their connections
and intersections
with his organological interest.
Organology is the study of the
science in musical instruments.
Dayton C. Miller the
flutist had a pioneering
and prodigious career.
The early years, about 1880
to 1890, were dedicated
to the practice and
performance on the flute,
and flute composition
including-- my favorite--
this piece, which is
called The Audacious Jewel,
dated February 14th, 1893.
A romantic piece,
likely involving his
successful marriage proposal
to his soon-to-be wife.
This is charming because
it has a photograph of her
in there, and this is 1893.
And, there's the
diamond ring I suppose.
That's from the piece.
But, his self-education
went further to the design
and construction of flutes,
flute theory, acoustic studies
of the flute, flute
bibliography, and cataloging.
Miller's culminating career as a
collector, a natural conclusion
of all his previous
study, would consume him
until the day he died.
At some point, Miller turned
from being an amateur flutist
in his early years, to an
obsessed flute fanatic.
The turning point might have
occurred during Miller's maiden
voyage to 1896, now
age 30, Miller was set
to visit not only the
world-renowned German physicist
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen,
but also to the flute
manufacturing firm
of Rudall Carte,
for the delivery
of a flute he had made to order.
And, that is called
Flute Number 4.
And, here it is.
In 1896, a couple months later,
he wrote back to Rudall Carte
that he was playing
the new flute from one
to four hours every day.
As a flutist myself,
that was a lot.
He purchased his second
flute from them in 1898.
That's Number 5.
And, when he returned to England
to pick it up from the shop,
he heard for the first
time, a flute of gold.
It was on this trip in 1900
that his ears were opened
to a sound he would not forget.
Apparently, Miller's budget in
these years was not sufficient
for the purchase of a gold
flute, but after appearing
as an expert witness in a
lawsuit regarding x-rays,
the fee for his testimony was
sufficient for him to purchase,
and make, a few flutes
of sliver and gold.
The two extant flutes are
Number 8 and Number 10.
This is Number 8.
This is silver.
This is an E-flat flute, so
it looks a little smaller.
And then, Number 10.
This is a blowout of Number
10, which is a gold flute.
True to the scientist he was, he
documented the hours it took him
to build this flute,
which was 3 years,
or 206 and a quarter
days, or 1,650 hours.
This is a remarkable instrument,
and I'm going to show it to you.
[ Inaudible Question ]
This is the second flute
he built by himself.
This is 22 karat gold,
with 18 karat keys.
And, it's in one piece.
If you're a flutist, you
know that's a little unusual.
And, this was used and
borrowed at Severance Hall.
[ Inaudible Question ]
Solid tube.
He bought a few other
tubes before that,
before he got it right.
By 1917, Miller entered a
new phase of his flute life,
leaving playing, composing,
and building flutes behind,
as having just turned 50,
he would spend the next 24
years forging connections
around the world through
his travels as a scientist,
his growing renown as a flute
collector, and his dedication
to maintaining correspondence
with acquaintances and dealers
that would last decades.
After 1917, Miller purchased
90% of his collection of flutes,
music, and books,
adding works of art
to his collecting scope in 1923.
While his science career
engrossed his days,
his nights were filled
with a flute hobby
that would soon turn him
into a serious collector
with a seriously
large collection,
all housed in Miller's
Cleveland, Ohio apartment.
It was Mrs. Miller's duty,
as her husband once noted,
to keep water jars
filled near the flutes.
Fo those people in conservation
here, they will appreciate that.
The art and science
of collecting.
Dayton C. Miller's
lifelong interest
in collecting wind instruments
may have had its root
in the playpen.
As during his early
childhood, he found a fife
that his father had played in
the United States Civil War.
Miller's ledger-- and this
is an annotation of it--
lists this fife fragment
as DCM Number 1.
This is Flute Number
1 in his ledger.
And, I have it right here.
The entry includes a confession
that the battered condition
of the instrument had little to
do with its military history.
You can see that the end of
the fife is broken off here,
and if you read this,
you can see
that he used it as a plaything.
This ledger entry, the only
truly personal entry Miller ever
recorded, might shed
light on the beginnings
of the collector in Miller.
Psychological observations by
writers such as Donald Winnicott
and Werner Muensterberger, the
later expounding particularly
on the psychology and
passions of collectors,
would attribute this specific
childhood memory and object
as the proverbial
security blanket,
whereby the fife provided
solace and the first passion
for possession to young
Dayton in the playpen.
Later as Dayton's childhood
was filled with organ, piano,
and flute playing, the tangible
object would, figuratively,
provide increasing value
and comfort, particularly
when his family, who had
lived in the same Ohio towns
for generations, moved away
to the West Coast in an effort
to save the life of his sister.
Miller would later confess
that he thought his life
might also be cut short.
But to the contrary,
he and his sister lived
for a very long time.
Thus, by 1893, Miller was
left behind to support himself
with his new career
and his new bride,
and a fear of dying young.
Eventually his flute purchases
likely provided a source
of satisfaction, thereby
easing the anxiety
of separation and adulthood.
For sure, anxiety would
not come into play,
even during the Great War, and
Depression years, until the end
of his life when he was unable
to sustain the collection safely
in his private home, and he was
unable to secure the public home
that he desired for the flutes.
With further psychoanalytical
probing, it is clear that some
of MIller's traits were inborn,
and some were acquired,
or self-taught.
He was from a
multi-generational,
well-respected Ohio family that
may have contributed a sense
of American pride,
duty, and sentiment.
In this hard-working,
and well-off family,
he learned that stability
and security were earned,
and he was not to
inherit a life of ease.
His spending money as a youth
and college student came
from chores in the
family garden,
or clerking in the family bank,
and as he later remarked
toward the end of his life,
his adult flute collection
purchases were directly funded
by his science activities.
Clearly wealth or a
comfortable financial stability
at some level was a constant
in his many years of buying,
but at least with Miller,
he must have also
required restraint.
Yet, he must have been
slightly obsessed.
The English collector and
bibliographer, William Hazlitt,
in his Confessions
of a Collector,
found his own obsession
to be "an inborn
and indestructible human trait.
A task demanding knowledge,
discretion, and patience
in order to achieve a
satisfactory result."
From the psychiatric
perspective, in 1998,
the term Dayton C.
Miller syndrome was coined
by the clinical psychiatrist
John Braverman Levine to mean
"an uncontrolled interest
in the developmental
history of the flute.
The patient becomes preoccupied
both with physical objects,
and with systems
of categorization.
As the collection
increases in size,
the conceptual categories
change,
and the sufferer is compelled
to acquire more items."
Further, in a paper delivered
to the National Flute
Association annual meeting
in 2002, Levine concluded
Doctor Miller came
out of the 19th century
tradition of science
as high class description.
As an astronomer, he was trained
to make, record, organize,
and classify observations over
very long periods of time.
Levine stated, With this
patient, Doctor Miller,
in collecting obsession
was not a disorder,
rather it was a necessity.
Ultimately, one must wonder,
after 45 years of collecting,
how much can an obsession cost?
How much did Miller spend to
amass the staggering number
of items that range
from rare first editions
and singular works of
art, to a flute made
for Frederick the Great,
to oodles of pan pipes?
And, with no children--
the likely culprit being
the x-ray machine--
or family left in
Ohio, what would happen
with Miller's flute collection?
I'm now going to turn
it over to Paul Runci.
By day, Paul works with numbers,
science, and technology.
And at night, he's a flute
player and a flute collector.
>> Paul Runci: [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Not yet.
>> Paul Runci: Thank
you, Carol Lynn.
And, thanks everyone for being
here, and for this opportunity
to talk with you all today.
I should probably start with
a few words on why I'm here.
I'm not a professional
musician, or a collector,
or a librarian, or anything.
But about 8 years ago
now, I was a fellow
in the Senate, working here.
And, stumbled on to the fact
that the Miller Collection
existed here
at the Library of Congress.
As a flute player-- actually
an Irish flute player--
the reason I play Irish music is
because it's the only way you
can be a mediocre flute player
and still get a free beer.
So, I managed to get in
touch with Carol Lynn,
and she invited me in.
and, I saw this collection,
and thought I'd never seen
a happier place in my life,
and I need to find
a way to, kind of,
stay in connection to it.
So, I started out on this
project with Carol Lynn,
which she just described.
You know, we started out on
a whim with this question of,
you know, what was the
purchase cost of this?
If we were to put this
in today's dollars,
what did it actually cost
him, and how would you manage
to amass something like
this as a humble professor?
So, anyway, we started down this
rabbit hole of trying to, just,
kind of, establish
the purchase value
in today's dollars
of the collection.
And, so that's what I'm going
to talk a little bit
about here today.
If you look at the chart
here, let me just, kind of--
I don't know how well you
can see it, but I'll explain.
So, the black line with the
black square dots on it,
is the total purchase
value in 2015 dollars
of the flutes that he bought.
The yellow line is the number
of flutes purchased
in any given year.
So, if you look at the Y
axis on the left-hand side,
that gives the dollars.
The right-hand Y axis gives you
the actual number of flutes.
So, as we began to
think about how
to assess just the purchase
value of this, you know,
you quickly run into
the question of, well,
how do you adjust the dollars
from whatever the nominal
year was into today's dollars?
And, there are lots of different
metrics for doing that.
Ultimately, we settled on
the Consumer Price Index,
which is a fairly standard
metric for measuring things
that aren't traded across
international boundaries.
You know, if goods are traded,
if you're buying things
a lot overseas, you know,
you'd use market exchange rates,
or purchasing power parities,
or other sorts of currency
deflators like that.
But, since he was buying
things in the U.S. primarily,
with exceptions, you know,
we went with the CPI.
So, it's imperfect.
He clearly was buying things
internationally, but you know,
it was a reasonable
place to start.
So, I guess this is
all just a long way
of caveating what
you're seeing here,
but it gives a reasonable
idea, I think.
The other thing I'd just say up
front is while we started to,
you know, kind of,
play with this question
of what the purchase cost
was, as we got into this,
I discovered that that really
is not the interesting story,
or the interesting
question that the,
you know, that the data tell.
And, anyway, the
question of how he paid
for it is unanswerable, largely.
So, what I'd like to do is focus
here on the period starting
in 1919, which is right here,
with the end of World War One.
And, as you can see right there,
that's a pretty clear
demarcation point in the history
of the collection, because
right after World War One,
this thing just spikes.
You can just look at any
given year from then on,
and the number of
flutes in yellow,
you know, is astronomical.
And, he was also getting
some values, because you look
at the fact that the amount he
was spending versus the number
of flutes was fairly low.
So, he was clearly
getting some bargains.
To me, and this is speculative,
but when I was compiling this,
I thought of the fact that after
World War One, there was a lot
of dislocation, particularly
in Europe.
Germany, Austria, Italy.
All of which were places that
Miller was collecting, you know,
a fair number of
flutes in that decade.
So, he had dealers in Europe
who, kind of, scouted for him.
And, I can only think
that at this point,
when you see this large
spike in the number of flutes
that he was managing to take
advantage of the fact that,
you know, a lot of interesting
instruments were coming
on the market at that point,
that weren't there before.
So, between 1919 and
1929-- let me-- there we go.
And, I apologize, that red line
should actually be one year
to the left.
So, just before that
high spike--
you can see that one
data point there.
Should be just to
the left of that.
Anyway, in that decade, from
1919 to 1929, that accounted
for 56% of the flutes
that he collected.
And, 373 of those were
purchased from European sellers.
So-- which is about half of
what he bought in that period.
So, you can see-- that tells
me that there were bargains.
And, he wasn't just
buying anything.
We know that he was
a very meticulous
and careful collector.
So, that also tells us
that there were interesting
things coming on the market,
and that he was managing to,
you know, to be ready to pounce
when they became available.
So, the other key point here, I
think, is the second red line,
which should be at that 1929.
And that, of course, coincides
with the crash, you know,
the stock market
crash, and the beginning
of the Great Depression.
I find it particularly
interesting that in the year
after the stock market crash,
he has both the largest amount
of outlays, and the largest
number of flute purchases.
So, similar pattern
here in the sense
that people's fortunes
had shifted.
Probably a lot of things were
being sold of to finance--
you know, to keep families
afloat and that sort of thing.
And, Miller was able to
capture a lot of the instruments
that came on the
market, you know, that--
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Not only did he not lose too
much money, but I also find,
if you look at how much he was
spending even during the Great
Depression, so in
those subsequent years.
I don't think there were many
people who had, you know,
over $10,000 in any given
year to lay out for their,
you know, for their hobbies.
So-- and that kind of brings us
back to the original question
of well, how was he
paying for all this
on a professor's salary?
You know, it's-- his
salary was somewhere
around $3500, something
like that?
Carol? [inaudible] Yes.
So--
[ Inaudible Comment ]
Yes, there are lots
of, you know,
we know there was
family money as well.
And, you know, he made gifts
of stock later to, you know,
colleges that he
was involved in.
So, there was money around.
But-- clearly, there was a lot
of money around in the family.
[ Inaudible Question ]
Was it 38,000?
>> [inaudible]
>> Paul Runci: Yes.
Maybe even slightly
more than that.
>> [inaudible]
>> Paul Runci: Yes.
Yes, yes. So, still a
significant share of,
you know, of income.
So, and it was clear that,
you know, he was keeping lots
of feelers out at this time.
He had dealers that he worked
with for years in Europe.
You know, you see in
his ledgers, you know,
the same names of dealers
appearing repeatedly.
He had somebody in England.
There's someone in Italy that
he worked with quite frequently.
And so, you know, so he had his,
kind of, network of, you know,
of cells, so to speak.
So, at the end of that
decade, when, you know,
he'd amassed this, you know,
very impressive collection,
not only in number, but
in quality very quickly.
I think it was at that point
that he began to wonder--
you know, I think he was
probably tripping over these
in his house at that point.
And--
[ Inaudible Question ]
Altogether, it's 1423,
something like that?
Fourteen hundred, twenty-six.
Yes. So, at that point,
he needed to find a home
for the flutes, it was, I think,
overwhelming his expectations
and the space that
he had available.
So, I'm going to turn it back
over to Carol Lynn to talk
about how he went about
searching for a home
for the collection,
a permanent home.
So. Thank you.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Again, probably as Paul said,
it was probably an ideal era
for collecting flutes
in America at least.
There seemed to be availability,
little competition,
perhaps relatively
affordable prices.
In 1920, he purchased 36
flutes; 1921, 57 flutes;
93 flutes in 1922;
131 flutes in 1930,
just in case you couldn't
see that on the graph.
But then we can turn
to his correspondence,
and we can also see
that he bought items
with discretion, and patience.
And, he did restrain and
contain his collecting obsession
to exactly what he
felt told the history
of the development of the flute.
So, by not purchasing
with extravagant abandon,
or an undiscerning eye,
he was clearly able
to keep his obsession and
spending collection growth
at manageable amounts.
Here is an image from the
1924 issue of the The Flutist.
This is a want ad.
What I find interesting is that
he would send things to Case.
So, I know he kept
them in his apartment,
but they must have all gone
into the Physics department.
This is a ledger entry
for the Flute Number 4
that I showed you, his
first flute purchase.
And, it's also over
on the table there,
because it is hard to see.
I can see it, you might
not be able to see it,
because he wrote in pencil.
But, what Paul was able to--
how he was able to tally this,
is at the bottom of the ledger,
the top part shows, you know,
Miller describing the
instrument, but at the bottom,
he wrote where he got
it from, the date,
how much he paid,
and in what currency.
This Flute Number 4,
he paid $165 in 1896.
That was a lot of
money back then.
Miller's scientific and musical
worlds often would converge,
as he embarked upon his
second career in collecting
and documenting flutes and
flute-related materials.
In the June 1923
issue of The Flutist,
Miller describes his young
collection of music, flutes,
books, that it was by far
the largest collection
on the subject in existence.
Whether this claim was correct--
and I do believe it to be true--
overall he likely held
one of the largest
and most important collections.
He included a note that "it
is the purpose to preserve all
of this material in
systematic form, for the benefit
of flutists of the
present and the future.
Probably it will placed in one
of the principal
public museums."
By the time of his
donations in 1941,
his collections totaled
roughly 100,000 items.
I'm actually still counting.
But, nearly 1500 flutes
and other wind instruments,
thousands of works of art
on paper, photographs,
patent specifications, trade
catalogs, newspaper clippings,
autographs, music
books, statues,
and about 15,000 pages
of correspondence.
It is likely that
Miller must have thought
about every purchase carefully,
so that it would directly
illustrate the history
and development of the flute,
as evidenced through examination
of his preserved
card index files
and ledgers recording the books,
music, and the art purchases,
along with shipping
receipts, notes on his visits,
and his voluminous
correspondence,
for the most part containing
incoming and outgoing copies,
all solely related to
flute collection purchases
or enquiries.
The archives of his diverse
science careers are still held
at Case Western.
Each flute purchase was
documented in a ledger format,
like you see here, that
detailed in a consistent
and rather scientific way the
object's physical description.
Miller also photographed
the collection
on glass plate negatives, and
the positives, to the delight
of subsequent curators
and conservators.
Considering the other aspects
of his collections also
meticulously recorded
and retained in his
vast correspondence
in card index files.
Regarding just the books, likely
still the largest collection
of books on flute history and
organology, Miller stated,
"Every work included is
considered by the collector
to be of importance
in the relation
to the history of the flute.
There are many items which
so far as known do not exist
in any other collection."
In 1935, with the number of
titles nearing 3,000 books,
he privately printed an
annotated bibliography,
and that is right here.
And, just to give you an
example, in the entries,
the annotations, he would do
a full bibliographic citation
here, in the annotation,
and often it would say something
like, "As far as can be traced,
this is a unique work not
found in any other library,
not found in the
British Museum."
So, he was very, very
careful, even with the books,
the collection of his
books that he was seeking.
The works of art
collection includes
at least seven separate
collections that range in date
from the late 15th century
to the early 20th century,
and are in many formats
of-- on paper and statuary.
You can see in here,
the little netsukes,
those all depict a
flute or a fife player.
By the time of his 1941 donation
to the Library of Congress,
the printed music collection,
which I think was the earliest.
He probably started
that in 1887,
since he was a young flutist.
And, the cost analysis has
yet to be done by Paul.
I did it roughly.
Over the course of 40
years in 2015 dollars,
I calculated $1,831,495.
And, yes, he must have
been slightly obsessed.
Miller's correspondence between
1894 and 1941 revealed him
to be quite knowledgeable
and polite while negotiating
either reference questions
or acquisitions.
The letters also reveal
much about his systematic
and methodical acquisition
style.
Most notably, for
example, as Miller sought
to represent the history of
the development of the flute,
was careful not to
duplicate acquisitions.
His purchases of 18
flutes of glass or crystal
by Claude Laurent, surely
his most indulgent pursuits,
were clearly a scientific
survey,
as he carefully rejected flutes
that might duplicate years
of manufacture, or
number of keys.
Miller was also keenly
aware of his purchases,
such as with his extensive
collection of Native North
and South American flutes, for
he halted buying from one dealer
when he realized the
dealer was trying
to sell him manufactured
duplicates,
as if Miller was
a casual tourist.
There are 139 examples from
North and South America.
Three are in this case here.
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
I don't think so,
but he might have.
I don't know.
He didn't leave that
in his correspondence.
I think he played the modern
flutes, and these, but--
I do want to read you a quick
little excerpt regarding the
Native American flutes that
he wrote to a dealer in 1926.
He said, "I am personally
acquainted with the officers
of the Department of Ethnology
in Washington, and with those
in charge of the Indian Affairs
with the Canadian government.
And, I have had dealings
with over 30 houses
specializing in Indian relics.
These specimens which you sent,
there's very much
sameness in them."
Couple months later.
"It does seem to me
there's a strange similarity
in the general character of
these various Sioux flutes.
They are very new.
Apparently they have
not been used at all,
and the general arrangement,
and even the shape is repeated.
I am just wondering where
these instruments came from."
Couple months later.
"I am sorry to say
I am disappointed
with the Indian flutes
you're sending me.
They seem to be new instruments
which have been manufactured
as curios."
Then he wrote, "One
might be suspicious
that they were being made
especially to sell to me."
But then, a few years
later, he was still buying
from this collect-- this--
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Pardon?
Yes, he did return them.
There should be receipts
to show that.
But then, he wrote to this
dealer a few years later.
Apparently the dealer went
from selling him flutes,
the courting flutes that you
see up there, to whistles.
There are a lot of
whistles in the collection.
This letter was kind
of funny, though.
Miller wrote-- so the dealer
must have been sending him
whistles, and Miller wrote back,
"I would like to mention again
that I am about" quote
"fed up on whistles."
So, that was the end of
the whistle collection.
Miller maintained correspondence
with dealers, donors,
flute aficionados, and
makers often for many years.
Dealers around the world knew
him well, and would send a list
of available items such as
books, music, prints of flutes.
Invariably, Miller would
also send out a list
of what he was looking
for, particularly,
like with the Frederick
the Great flute.
He was desperately
looking for that flute.
Most purchases were single
items, although a few times,
he bought numerous
items, or lots,
the lots at auction,
a lot of things.
He noted about these
lot purchases,
he did not like that it meant a
collection was being dispersed
or broken apart.
Much of the correspondence
reveals details rich
in the provenance
of the objects,
and also the time it took
to cultivate the
buyer-seller relationship.
He waited years for some
flutes, either because he waited
for the price to be fair, or
because some owners took time
in the sale, due to a reluctance
to sell or part with the flute.
The sale of a flute made
for President Madison
in 1813 took five years of
back and forth with the owners,
a set of siblings, until
Miller finally persuaded them
with the incentive that the
flute would again be on display
in a public museum,
hopefully the National Museum,
where it had been in 1903,
and where Miller intended
to donate his flute collection.
The mission of the
Library of Congress,
the nation's first established
cultural institution,
and the largest library in the
world, is to provide Congress,
the federal government, and the
American people with a diverse
and enduring source of
knowledge, to inform,
inspire, and engage them.
In 1815, Congress purchased
Thomas Jefferson's library,
a rich collection
universal in scope,
knowledge, and creativity.
Jefferson, a keen admirer of
music was also a violinist.
His library collection
held 13 books of music,
on music literature and theory,
thus laying the foundation
for the future Music Division.
By 1896, the Music
Division was established,
and during the years 1924 to
1935, aided by the philanthropy
of two remarkable women,
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
and Gertrude Clark Whittall.
The mission of the Music
Division included musical
performances and
music commissions.
The Music Division quickly
became an international center
for the performance and
study of chamber music,
and seemed a viable
institution to establish
and maintain collections
of musical instruments.
Sparked by the 1935 gift of
five Stradivari instruments
from Mrs. Whittall, the Music
Division has been enriched
by subsequent gifts of
musical instruments.
During the 1920s,
Miller began the search
for a permanent home
for his collections.
Throughout his correspondence
during these years,
he spoke of the collection
heading to the National Museum,
now the Smithsonian Institution,
where he heard they might
establish a department
of fine arts.
And, where they discussed
with him a new building
to house the collection.
Interestingly, the vision for
these plans were likely modeled
at the 1893 Columbian
exposition in Chicago
to which Dayton Miller
traveled during his honeymoon.
The plan, akin to the White
City design of Daniel Burnham,
was marked by precision
and geometry.
A commission of fine arts
in DC was later established,
and plans were made for a
Smithsonian gallery of art,
but the plans as Miller
understood them to be,
were never carried out.
In 1924, Miller heard from
Charles Greeley Abbot,
assistant secretary
at the Smithsonian,
that he was glad his
collection would become a part
of the museum.
Between 1924 and 1927, Miller
also wrote to Frances Densmore,
a member of the museum
staff and an ethnologist,
about the proposed new
fine arts building,
having his flute collection
at the museum, and the hope
that she would be in
charge of his collection.
But, by 1928, he became
anxious, writing to her,
"The collection is now too
large for a private house.
I do not see much prospect
of completing arrangements
with the Smithsonian until
a new museum is erected."
Eleven days later he
wrote to her again.
"If I present the instruments
to a museum without any cost,
I feel they ought at least to
be assured fine exhibition.
The Library of Congress
has been very interested
in this collection, and
they have definitely stated
that they would be glad to
receive all the collection,
and would provide
exhibition cases."
Clearly, Miller was seeking a
public museum or institution
for the final home,
and he wanted his collections
together, in one location.
While loyal to his home
state and its institutions,
it is not clear in
his correspondence
that the Cleveland Museum
of Art, or Oberlin were
under consideration
to house the flutes.
He was very much impressed
with the German Museum
of Masterpieces, a museum,
but found it lacked a
great collection of music
to supplement the instruments.
He thought most highly of
the Metropolitan Museum
of New York-- of Art in New
York, but as stated in his will,
he did not want the
collection to go there
for the following reason.
"I specifically object to
the system of classification
of musical instruments, as it
has been heretofore exhibited
in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York City."
In 1933, Miller wrote to
Carleton Sprague Smith
at the New York Public Library,
an institution very
much interested
in housing his flute collection.
He told Doctor Smith that he
had catalogs of 50 museums
of musical instruments, and
had visited most of them,
as well as many of
the music libraries
in the United States and abroad.
Perhaps Miller and Smith,
who was also a flutist,
held a similar philosophy,
one Miller eventually found
at the Library of Congress.
They discussed a
hypothetical music museum,
a unique educational center.
The mission of this music museum
would require an amalgamation
or union of books, instruments,
iconography and sound.
It would appeal to the lay
person, the researcher,
the student, the scholar.
Interesting, I later
found a letter
from Carleton Sprague
Smith in 1957,
where he did write a proposal
to New York Public Library
to create this library museum
of the performing arts.
In 1931, Miller wrote
to Carl Engel,
chief of the Music Division
at the Library of Congress,
that the Music Division was
thorough in covering the field
of music, and he felt proud it
was the nation's top library,
complete with concerts.
In 1934, Librarian of
Congress Herbert Putnam
and Carl Engel requested
a catalog
of his book collection,
the one I showed you.
And, for this, he did
prepare that just for them.
Also in February of that
year, Miller wrote again
to Frances Densmore, fearing
the collection was so large,
that quote "I have
no place to keep it.
I am seriously beginning
to worry
as to what will become of it.
I fear it will be
destroyed or dispersed,
and nothing at all will come
of all the trouble
I have put into it."
Around 1934-1935, he reached
his decision, and his will
of 1939 stated that the entire
collection would be given
to the Library of Congress.
It further stipulated that his
collections would be preserved
intact as a whole
and not subdivided,
so as to illustrate directly
the history of the flute.
In 1939, Miller wrote to
the Scottish organologist,
Lindsay Langwell
[assumed spelling],
saying "In the year 1938,
38 specimens were added,
most of these unimportant."
It seemed as if Miller
had exhausted his energy,
time, and resources.
And, the collection felt
saturated, and the urge
to collect was slowing down.
This engaged collector
with seemingly no end
to his collecting
energy until this point,
had acquired deep knowledge
about his collection,
and a deep desire to
share his collection.
Perhaps his collection was the
biggest source of his pride,
at least equivalent to
the quantifiable honors
and decorations of
his scientific life.
He must have wondered, what
is the legacy of a collector?
What is the legacy
of any collection
of musical instruments?
And, how will it
outlive the collector?
But, in 1941, Miller
still had more plans,
new energy apparently.
He had commenced research on
a definitive book on the flute
through history, starting
with those pan pipes.
He intended to move with his
collection to the Library
of Congress, and he was to
become its honorary curator.
But, he died suddenly
of myocardial infarction
at his Cleveland home at
age 74, in February of 1941.
And, his collection of flutes
and flute-related materials
arrived at the Library
of Congress in May of 1941.
He was packing up the collection
when he had the heart attack.
But, ultimately,
through his collections,
Dayton C. Miller attained his
dream of educating the public,
and collecting, documenting,
and preserving cultural
heritage for all.
And, his collection
has stayed together.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
If there are any questions,
anything I haven't answered--
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
The Met?
They were exhibiting
in a classified way.
He wanted-- he didn't want
a classification system.
He objected to classifying
flutes.
So that that would mean that
mankind was divided by race.
And, he did not want that.
And, you can see in this case,
there are flutes from all over,
and there are more
flutes back there.
And, that's what
they did back then.
>> Two quick questions.
The first flute that you
showed, was that made of wood?
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
The fife that he banged around?
>> No. The dark one.
Number 4, I think you called it.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Number 4?
Actually that's ebonite.
>> OK.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
And, that's a hard rubber.
And, what's really
interesting about that flute,
for all the money that
he spent, he went home
and actually built
a foot joint for it.
So, he actually went home,
and out of hard rubber
made this foot joint.
So, he could have more
tonal range in it.
But.
>> Second question.
The gold flute of a single--
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Single tube, yes.
>> How is it tunable?
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
One piece.
>> OK.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Tunes to 435.
So, you tune to him.
>> Four thirty-five.
Thank you.
>> How much does it weigh?
[inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
You know,
that's a really good question.
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
It's practice.
But, you know, he has a ledger
of all the hours that he took
to make that flute, so, I
think the weight's in there.
Because I was just
looking through it.
I mean, he weighed all
the alloys and everything
that he put in there, so we
could probably tally that up.
As an aside, yesterday as I
was putting things together,
I found that unpublished
manuscript
on the history of the flute.
So, guess what my next
project's going to be?
I'm going to be typing
that for him.
Yes?
>> Question.
The Frederick the Great's
flute that used to be--
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Right.
>> -- displayed years
ago in the hallway.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Right.
>> Is that playable?
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: You
know, it's made out of ebony.
And so, that if we were to play
it today with the knowledge
that we have, would
cause it to crack.
So, we keep it in very stable--
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Pardon?
>> I thought it was
made of crystal.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: No,
Frederick the Great's is a
wood flute, made in about 1730.
The crystal flute was
President Madison's.
>> Oh. Oh, OK.
I haven't seen it in decades.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
We can show it to you.
>> Used to be right outside
the Coolidge Auditorium.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: Yes.
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
I wish I had seen it then.
But--
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: It's
in a very secured temperature
and humidity to preserve
it, to help--
>> Is that why they're here now?
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Exactly.
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
The Frederick the Great flute?
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
The crystal one.
Well, that's an interesting
question.
It is playable, although I
wouldn't recommend doing that.
If you want to hear it
though, there's one on YouTube.
The museum in Barcelona
has a flutist who plays
on their collection flute,
and you can hear the sound.
It's very soft and pretty.
Yes? Oh, sorry.
>> I just wanted to
comment that we're lucky
that he was a scientist and
a flute player, because all--
I don't know if I'd
call it an obsession,
his style of documenting
things, because I know a lot
of scientist friends who are
just obsessed in the labs
of documenting, recording,
and noting everything.
So, we're fortunate
that he actually had
that science gift
that actually trans--
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
I think that's exactly
what it was.
The scientific methodical style.
You should come over
to this table,
and look at how he
tracked everything.
>> Yes.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Even his book sales.
A second edition
translated book.
I mean, you know, how
much the stamps cost.
How much he got for
it, you know?
>> And, I see in my friend
who does that for Johnson
and Johnson in the same research
stuff that he does, you know,
for drug manufacturing.
It's all scientific.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Right.
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: So,
I think it totally informed
his ability to collect.
>> Yes. Which is great.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: Yes?
>> [inaudible] You didn't
really say very much about--
you talked a lot about
his professional career,
and his career as a
collector and a flutist,
but not about his
character as a person.
And, one thing that I think
one might be able to read
out of your graph,
is that in the wake
of the stock market
crash, and the Depression,
he's actually paying
more per flute.
He's not bottom-feeding.
He's not taking advantage
of his fellow man who's--
I mean, maybe I'm reading
to much into this--
but his fellow man who's
sort of selling items
of great value out
of desperation.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
But, I did say that.
That the correspondence
reveals him to be polite.
And, that he waited
until a fair price.
So, if a dealer said
to him, here's a flute.
I want $100 for it.
He would say no, I
think it's worth 80.
And, he would wait.
Or, likewise, he-- if
someone said here's a flute,
I only want $2 for it, and
Miller felt it was worth more,
he would give them
the fair price.
And, everything that I've read
about Miller was
exactly what I said.
That they felt he
was very polite.
And, just very reserved.
I mean, he didn't exuberate, you
know, the collector, whatever.
And, he didn't purchase
luxury things.
I think he was just very calm,
and plodded through
this very carefully.
But, when I went
to Case Western,
they said he was just crazy.
And, I was really
upset, because I was used
to hearing the flute side.
But they, you know-- he had
huge battles with Einstein
over the ether drift theory,
and theory of relativity.
And, that's where his passion,
I think, and his argument went.
>> [inaudible]
>> Paul Runci: It's
an interesting point
that you raised there.
And, the one-- you jogged my
memory of one thing I meant
to mention, just about the year
1930, which was where you saw
that really, kind
of, noteworthy spike.
So, that one year accounts
for 9% of the collection.
So, in one year he
collected 9% of the flutes.
And, there is, both the
purchase price and the number
of flutes kind of
converge there.
That's another thing
that's noteworthy.
But, it's an interesting
question.
At least, I don't know--
I'd have to go back and look
at the ledgers to see exactly
what flutes he purchased
that year.
It certainly looks like
what you're saying is true,
that you know, he wasn't just
out to shake people down,
and you know, take
Grandma's pearls.
But--
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Not at all.
And then, don't forget
I stated--
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Right?
Absolutely.
>> Paul Runci: But, it would
be interesting to look and see
which flutes actually were
added to the collection.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Well,
the Frederick the
Great's flute was, 1930.
That was a big purchase.
>> Paul Runci: Oh.
OK.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
But, you know, don't forget,
I stated in the beginning,
his mother
and father died in
1918 and 1919.
So, we're assuming he might have
inherited something from them.
Because he made it very
clear, quite a few times,
he only bought flutes
from the products
of his scientific
studies and work.
So-- but I think he
made a lot of money
on the lecture circuit
with the x-rays.
There's a tiny little newspaper
article there showing Dayton C.
Miller and the x-rays
or something.
But, that was a big thing.
People were, like,
amazed at this.
And, he went all over the
world talking about x-rays.
Yes?
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: Oh!
Awesome. He was there
for 45 years.
>> [inaudible] working
on a biography, so--
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Doctor Fickinger.
He wrote it a couple
of years ago.
And, it's only the
science side of his life.
And, I did go out there
and meet Doctor Fickinger.
And, we talk from time to time.
And, it's a huge archive
out there of his work.
>> His reputation
was [inaudible].
He was quite a physicist
in his day.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Right.
And, that--
>> [inaudible]
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford: And,
what Doctor Fickinger told me
was, you know, Miller walked
in the door at Case Western,
and said can I have a job?
And, you could hear from
his biography early on,
they just gave it to him.
And, he did this
self-education too, of--
so, it's very different.
But.
>> At the beginning,
you mentioned something
about he had measured
different materials for flutes.
And, I don't remember
what material was the one
that had the most
overtones, or--
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
The gold.
The gold did.
And, that's why he went crazy.
Then he just had to
make a gold flute.
And, as a flutist myself,
I always remember growing
up with my silver
flutes, you know,
you have to get a gold flute.
It's the one that
sounds the best.
And, that's where
this came from.
He did this study,
and he decided
that the overtones caused
the greater tone production.
>> My other question is, since
he was an acoustician also,
did he contribute anything to
the development of the flute,
or its tuning, or
things like that?
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
No, although the flute he made,
the gold one there, he did work
on different tunings
and things like that.
He was most of all known,
though, for, you know,
auditorium design
as I mentioned.
But, also he took that, and
the government hired him.
He had to take a year off, and
he even mentioned that, to--
the government had
him study bullets,
and the shock sound
from bullets.
So, he could have probably
had a very huge career
as an acoustician, had
he not been distracted
with flutes and Einstein.
>> What did he think
of the platinum flute?
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
He tried to make one.
But then the war in the
early 1917, 1920 time period.
He actually bought tubes of
platinum to start to make one.
And, he never commenced that.
Because he actually stopped
making flutes at that point too.
But, if anyone has a
platinum flute that they would
like to donate to
the collection,
we don't have one, still.
Yes?
>> I think that most people
that collect seriously realize
after a time, no matter
how much time you have,
how much money you have, your
collection is never going
to be really what you
envisioned it to be.
Is there anything from anything
you've read, Mr. Miller wrote,
had that same feeling?
Oh, I wish I had done this.
I really wish I could have
added this to my collection?
In other words, did he see
any faults in his collection?
And, if he didn't,
as you look back,
the whole collection today,
objectively [inaudible] yes,
he could have been doing
this, but he didn't.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
That's a great question.
I think it goes to
the platinum flute.
That was a great question,
too, David [assumed spelling].
I think that would have been
the culminating material
in his acoustic studies.
You know, what is the sound
of platinum, because right
at that time, the early
20th century, you know,
we have Varese composing
a piece, Density 21.5,
for platinum flute,
and that took off.
And, it's still pretty popular.
So, we don't have that material.
And, he didn't have
that material.
And, I'm always kind
of curious, like,
why didn't he just go buy
a platinum flute, you know?
He could have bought one.
There was a particularly famous
flutist, Georges Barrere,
who was playing on
platinum flutes.
So, that I think, but I never
saw him express that lack.
I really feel like he felt
like I'm done collecting.
I am tired.
My collection's saturated, and
I want to go to the Library
of Congress and be
that honorary curator.
And, I feel like he
was on that chapter.
>> We're out of time.
So we can maybe thank Carol Lynn
and Paul for their talk today.
And, you can also check out
materials at the side table.
Thank you so much.
>> Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford:
Thank you.
[ Applause ]