Dear Anne, I remember from years ago, when I lived in Stockton, CA, reading about a Chickering grand that came around the horn and arrived at Christmas ca. 1850. It was sent to a pastor for his daughters. There was a little vignette about the miners gathering outside on the porch as the girls played carols on it for Christmas ... they said it wasn't even out of tune. (Well, I wonder what we would have thought.) I always wondered if I would bump into this piano in Stockton some day, but didn't. My impression was that the pastor lived in Stockton, though it might have been somewhere in Calaveras County. A customer showed me the book ... wish I could remember which customer. It was a book about women, I believe, but whether it was about women in the California Gold Rush or 19th century women in general I can't remember. Regards, Susan ---------------------------------------- At 09:35 AM 1/22/98 -0500, Anne Beetem wrote: >Greetings all! > > I have a historical question for us. I've already given the inquirer, >Laurette Goldberg from MusicSources in Berkeley, what I have from my >sources, which I'm do not feel is sufficient. They are organizing a Gold >Rush musical event to celebrate the sequiscentennial. > > Here's the question: > > What evidence do we have of what type of pianos in California in >1852? I have direct knowledge of an 1859 cast iron frame Steinway square >which was shipped around South America by boat and still resides in the San >Francisco Bay area. I know what types of pianos were being produced in >the U.S. then. A lot happened in those 7 years though in California and >it was still quite rough in 1852. Information anybody? > > Best, Anne > ------------------------------------------------- Susan Kline P.O. Box 1651 Philomath, OR 97370 skline@proaxis.com
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