Cleveland, Ohio
Child & Bishop

Brass, rosewood, ivory, ebony
ca.  1850
Height: 32.5 in; Width: 47.5 in; Depth: 23.5 in
Wind Instruments – Free Reeds

Gold Inscription:  Child & Bishop /  Cleveland, Ohio

This is a small Empire rosewood free-reed organ known as a melodeon. It was made by Bishop & Child, a small family-owned company that produced both organs and melodeons that date from about 1846-1850.  According to a published ad, they were located in the second and third stories of Hulburt’s New Block, on Nos. 64 & 68 Ontario Street, in Cleveland, Ohio.  These melodeons are an American development of the harmonium and became the ancestor of the reed or pump organ.  An iron right pedal works the bellows, while the left “swell” pedal increases volume.  Not pictured with this melodeon is the original bench that came with it.