Shrine to Music Museum, University of South Dakota, SD

The Shrine to Music Museum may also be known as the National Music Museum and it is located at the University of South Dakota, 414 East Clark Street, Vermillion, South Dakota, 57069. The museum was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University and the collection has more than 14,500 instruments from America, Europe and non-Western cultures. The instruments span many historical periods throughout history. Every year there are thousands of visitors to the museum to see the collection.

Some of the highlights of the collection include: two 18th century grand pianos with the specific type of action that the inventor of the piano, Bartolomeo Cristofori conceived. The first piano was built by Manuel Antunes of Lisbon in 1767 and it was signed and dated by him. The second piano was built in 1781 by Louis Bas in Villeneuve les Avignon and is the earliest extant French grand piano.

There are 500 instruments made by an America company, C.G. Conn, in the later 19th and early 20th century which makes this collection a great resource for historical research. The brass, woodwinds and stringed instruments crafted in Nurnberg in the 17th and 18th century by members of the Hass and Oberlender families, Ernst Busch, Paul Hainlein and Jacob Denner are one of the most unique outside the country of Germany. Dutch woodwind instruments have found a place in the museum as have the Italian stringed instruments crafted by Andrea Guarneri, Antonio Stradivari and three generations of the Amati family and are better than the ones found in Italy. There are two of only three 17th century Cremonese stringed instruments in preserved, unaltered condition made by Andrea Guarneri in 1664.

The archives hold violin making tools and Baroque fittings, fortepiano and harpsichord tuning hammers, and 1,000 brass mouthpieces from just about every turn of the century manufacturer. The museum is in a building that encompasses approximately 20,000 square feet, with nine galleries to display the instruments. The Arne B. Larson Concert Hall has wonderful acoustics and is the setting for performing and recording music played on original instruments. A specialized library, study-storage areas and a lab where instruments are restored is also part of the museum. The museum is also a place to hold seminars, conventions and lectures.

A Gift Shop has books, CD's, DVD's, videos, posters, post cards, technical drawings, used books or periodicals, and note cards. Visitors can order by mail, fax or phone, Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm central time. They can pay using PayPal, Visa, MasterCard and Discover credit cards.

There are many hotels in the area of the University of South Dakota. Visitors can stay at the Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Prairie Inn, Super 8, Valiant Vineyards at Buffalo Run Resort and Westside Inn. Summer conferences can accommodate visitors in the dormitories on campus. There are also several campgrounds in the area like: Lions Park Campground, Clay County Park, and Union Grove State Park. Vermillion is located on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River close to where Lewis and Clark camped in 1804.