Museum of Music archives collections
Online archives from luthiers and instrument makers
The Paris-based Museum of Music keeps archives from luthiers, instrument makers and musicians. Several hundreds of these documents are now accessible online.
Discover the collectionsThese archives testify to evolutions both in instrument-making and in the musical scene during the 19th and 20th centuries. In particular, they comprise registers from Érard, Pleyel and Gaveau, from Nicolas Lupot, Gand and Bernardel’s instrument-making workshops, and they also include substantial correspondence between luthiers Chanot and Chardon.
Documentation sur la Maison Erard, vers 1889, image n° 7, n° inv. E.989.2.1
The main part of these archive collections - comprising extremely fragile documents, sometimes in poor condition - was digitized and uploaded for safe-keeping and accessibility purposes, as testimony.
Archives collections
Érard, Pleyel and Gaveau
The incredible Érard, Pleyel, Gaveau archives collection testifies to nearly two centuries of music, from the late 18th century to the seventies.
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Gand, Bernardel, Caressa and Français
These archives detail the daily life of great French stringed-instrument makers from 1816 to 1944.
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Chanot-Chardon
This collection gathers around 3500 private and professional documents from luthier Georges Chanot (1801-1883) and his family.
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Besson
These archives originate from a French family business specialised in the making of wind instruments, from the last third of the 19th century to its bankruptcy in 1950.
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