The Sheridan Germann Collection

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Sheridan Germann (1935–2021) was an artist and art historian in Boston who dedicated her career to the study of harpsichord decoration. Her massive collection of photographs and notes often captured much more than decoration as she served as a research assistant at the Smithsonian and unofficially for harpsichord maker William Dowd and many others whose reproduction harpsichords she decorated. The archive 
of her notes and about 30,000 photographs include preparation for her books and many articles—27 of which cover diverse topics in the Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments (Kipnis 2007).  The collection is cross-referenced with the Boalch-Mould Online database of harpsichords and clavichords; searching for an instrument by BMO number turns up all related photos and papers.

The Sonnerstine Archive

In 1961, Charles Sonnerstine traveled Europe visiting harpsichord makers and documenting historic keyboard instruments. A planned career in harpsichord-making then took  a different turn. Decades later, his collection of reflections, measurements, and photographs were finally transferred to San Francisco harpsichord maker Kevin Fryer. The Sonnerstine collection is the inaugural project of the MIRCAT Virtual Archive.