© 2025 New England Public Media

FCC public inspection files:
WGBYWFCRWNNZWNNUWNNZ-FMWNNI

For assistance accessing our public files, please contact hello@nepm.org or call 413-781-2801.
PBS, NPR and local perspective for western Mass.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Mechanical Musical Marvels Play On in Museum

The Morris Museum is home to one of the world's largest collections of mechanical musical instruments and automatons. The items were formerly housed in two New York City townhouses owned by the late Murtogh Guinness of the prominent Irish brewing family.

In the latest installment of the Hidden Treasures Radio Project, Harriet Baskas explains how nearly 700 mechanical marvels, which date from the early 16th century to the late 20th century, came to perform at the Morristown, N.J., museum.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Harriet Baskas