Slideshow pho­tos are a few of the pipe organs fea­tured at the OHS 2026 Philadel­phia Celebration.

OHS 2026 - Philadelphia

OHS 2026

Philadel­phia
 

Philadel­phia is the site of great cel­e­bra­tion in 2026 — not the least of which because it marks the 250th anniver­sary of the sign­ing of the Dec­la­ra­tion of Inde­pen­dence, also known as the Unit­ed States Semi­quin­cen­ten­ni­al. This year-long cel­e­bra­tion tak­ing place across the coun­try is a time to reflect on the con­tri­bu­tions made by mil­lions of cit­i­zens in order to form a more per­fect union. This year also marks the 70th anniver­sary of the found­ing of the Organ His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety. A Sep­tu­a­gen­ni­al or Plat­inum Jubilee rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in the life of this total­ly unique insti­tu­tion. And what bet­ter way to cel­e­brate than with a party!

Vis­it OHS 2026 Philadelphia

Upcoming Events

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Free Shipping on USA Domestic Orders

OHSLA Annual Book Sale

Hear ye, Hear ye, read all about it.

We are pleased to announce the launch of our 2025 OHS Library and Archives Spring Book Sale. For a com­plete list of items, please select the but­ton below. Our spread­sheet will be updat­ed dai­ly dur­ing the sale. To place an order or for ques­tions, please call 484/488-PIPE (7473), or Mail@​OrganHistoricalSociety.​org. We are grate­ful for your contributions!

Down­load the 2025 OHS Book Sale List now!

Down­load the Book Sale List

2025 Pipe Organ Calendar

OHS 2025 — Milwaukee

Fea­tur­ing nev­er-before-pub­lished con­ven­tion instru­ment pho­tos from Mil­wau­kee and the sur­round­ing region.

Pho­tog­ra­phy by Len Levasseur

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Instruments

  • A.B. Fel­ge­mak­er Co. (1902)
  • Carl Bar­ck­hoff (1890)
  • Der­rick & Fel­ge­mak­er (1872)
  • Hann-Wan­gerin (1902)
  • Hann-Wan­gerin-Weick­hardt Co. (1904)
  • Hen­ry Pilcher’s Sons (1930)
  • Hook & Hast­ings (1881)
  • J.W. Steere & Sons (1893)
  • Robert Noehren (1966)
  • Schlick­er Organ Com­pa­ny (1988)
  • Stein­er-Reck Organ Co. (1989)
  • W.W. Kim­ball Co. (1903)
  • Wadsworth & Bro. (1863 & 1893)
  • Wm. Schuelke Organ Co. (1879)
  • Wm. Schuelke Organ Co. (1885)
  • Wm. Schuelke Organ Co. (1892)
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Barbara Owen | 1933-2024

Barbara Owen

It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Bar­bara J. Owen passed away peace­ful­ly a few min­utes past 8PM on Octo­ber 14, 2024 at Mas­conomet Health­care in Tops­field after a short peri­od of declin­ing health. She was 91.
Read More

​The Barbara Owen Fund for Education

Sponsored by the Organ Historical Society

Funds from this account will be used to pro­vide free mem­ber­ship for any­one in high school or in a bachelor’s or master’s pro­gram study­ing the pipe organ. Doc­tor­al stu­dents are not eli­gi­ble. Dig­i­tal mem­ber­ships will be free for the dura­tion of their stud­ies with prop­er ver­i­fi­ca­tion. Con­tri­bu­tions to this fund help ensure a healthy, grow­ing mem­ber­ship in the OHS.

Apply Now or Donate

Dr. Rollin Smith Research Grant

​Dr. Rollin Smith Research Grant

Sponsored by the Organ Historical Society

In sup­port of its mis­sion to enrich pub­lic knowl­edge, under­stand­ing, and appre­ci­a­tion of the pipe organ, the Organ His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety invites appli­ca­tions for its 2024 OHS Research Grant. An annu­al Grant of up to $2,000 sup­ports research projects relat­ed to the pipe organ — its builders, con­struc­tion, his­to­ry, styles, recep­tion, com­posers, reper­to­ries, organ­ists, per­for­mance prac­tice, and more. The Grant may be used to cov­er trav­el, hous­ing, and oth­er research-relat­ed expens­es. The Soci­ety encour­ages all inter­est­ed per­sons to apply.

Apply Now

A Breath of Fresh Air

Imag­ine watch­ing a 200-year old organ, bro­ken, tat­tered, and for­got­ten com­ing to life again. Imag­ine see­ing crafts­men and his­to­ri­ans work­ing togeth­er on a neglect­ed instru­ment, restor­ing it to glo­ry piece by piece. Imag­ine gaz­ing at its trans­for­ma­tion into an his­tor­i­cal­ly accu­rate ser­vice­able organ. Now, imag­ine hear­ing that instru­ment played for the first time in generations!

You can make these imag­i­na­tions come true. Join us as we attempt to cre­ate A Breath of Fresh Air for the 1817 Hilbus Cab­i­net Organ.

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Sup­port our won­der­ful programs.

 

OHS Annual
Fund Drive

Help sup­port oper­at­ing expens­es of OHS pro­grams and services.

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Sustaining Membership

Sustaining Membership

Join Today!

The OHS is pleased to offer a Sus­tain­ing Mem­ber cat­e­go­ry.  For as lit­tle as $10 per month, you can sup­port the OHS grow stronger and more respon­sive to the pipe organ com­mu­ni­ty.  OHS and you – sus­tain­ing a life­time of history.

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OHS Philadelphia 2026

OHS 2026 Convention Site

Philadel­phia is the site of great cel­e­bra­tion in 2026 — not the least of which because it marks the 250th anniver­sary of the sign­ing of the Dec­la­ra­tion of Inde­pen­dence, also known as the Unit­ed States Semi­quin­cen­ten­ni­al. This year-long cel­e­bra­tion tak­ing place across the coun­try is a time to reflect on the con­tri­bu­tions made by mil­lions of cit­i­zens in order to form a more per­fect union. This year also marks the 70th anniver­sary of the found­ing of the Organ His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety. A Sep­tu­a­gen­ni­al or Plat­inum Jubilee rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone in the life of this total­ly unique insti­tu­tion. And what bet­ter way to cel­e­brate than with a party!

Find out more

Pipe Organ Database Gets New Look

After months of work and devel­op­ment, the new inter­face for the OHS Pipe Organ Data­base launch­es Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 26, 2024. The entire struc­ture and tech­nol­o­gy as well as true rela­tion­al data­base pro­to­cols make it supreme­ly faster than the cur­rent inter­face. We have tried to make it user friend­ly and intu­itive. We invite your review and com­ments. ALL com­ments and updates are sent to the edit­ing team through a con­tact form and will be han­dled. Note that the search and fil­ter func­tions are exact­ly that– results are fil­tered live as you type in para­me­ters. Loca­tion name, city etc nar­row the list of results live as you type. We look for­ward to this new era of the OHS Database.

https://​pipeor​gan​data​base​.org/

 

The Barbara Owen Fund

The Barbara Owen Fund for Education

Sponsored by the Organ Historical Society

Funds from this account will be used to pro­vide free mem­ber­ship for any­one in high school or in a bachelor’s or master’s pro­gram study­ing the pipe organ. Doc­tor­al stu­dents are not eli­gi­ble. Dig­i­tal mem­ber­ships will be free for the dura­tion of their stud­ies with prop­er ver­i­fi­ca­tion. Con­tri­bu­tions to this fund help ensure a healthy, grow­ing mem­ber­ship in the OHS.

Apply Now!

 

Upcoming Events

The Tracker

OHS pub­lish­es its jour­nal four times a year. The Track­er includes news and arti­cles about the organ and its his­to­ry, organ­builders, exem­plary organs, region­al sur­veys of instru­ments, and the music played on the organ. The empha­sis is on Amer­i­can organ top­ics of the 18th, 19th, and 20th cen­turies, and there are occa­sion­al arti­cles on Euro­pean top­ics. Most issues run 48 pages with many illus­tra­tions and photographs.

More about The Tracker

Dear Friend of the Organ –
A New Opportunity

Think about the plea­sure you will receive in offer­ing an OHS mem­ber­ship to a friend or rel­a­tive. You can share your love of the pipe organ and intro­duce some­one else to the good works of the Soci­ety in edu­cat­ing, pre­serv­ing and chron­i­cling our rich organ her­itage and cul­ture. Mem­ber­ships make splen­did gifts. The recip­i­ent will receive a sub­scrip­tion to our quar­ter­ly mag­a­zine, The Track­er, a spe­cial gift and all the ben­e­fits of mem­ber­ship, includ­ing mem­bers’ prices on many items in the OHS Catalog.

Give A Gift Sub­scrip­tion Now!

The OHS Mission Statement

The Organ His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety cel­ebrates, pre­serves, and stud­ies the pipe organ in Amer­i­ca in all its his­toric styles, through re­search, edu­ca­tion, ad­vocacy, and music.

The Organ Historical Society

330 North Spring Mill Road
Vil­lano­va, PA 19085 – 1737
(484) 488-PIPE (7473)
mail@​organhistoricalsociety.​org

 

 

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