Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Help Save the Historic Piano Collection! (updated)

I recently received a message from Pat Frederick advising that a town selectman is considering repossessing the building that currently houses the Frederick’s piano collection.

After a town building went unused for a period of time, the Fredericks sought it out as a location to house their piano collection. A 10-year contract with the town was agreed upon, and the Fredericks assumed responsibility for all building maintenance. Since signing the contract in 2000, the Fredericks have been devoted to the upkeep of the former town library, adding many updates and landscaping the grounds.

Pat & Michael Frederick provide the public a rare opportunity to enjoy the most comprehensive collection of historical (playing) grand pianos in the US. The Frederick piano collection is also a source of musical pleasure during the spring and fall concert season. As a study center, it offers a unique opportunity for those who seek to gain an understanding of these treasured instruments. The Fredericks are well-known for their unselfish contributions of time, money and energy to promote the appreciation and understanding of the collection.

A few town officials are now suggesting the possibility of breaking the previously agreed-upon lease for the center, although the majority of the community will support the Frederick collection as a valued town contribution.

I understand many of you who read this request have never visited the Frederick piano collection but please consider this a cause worthy of your efforts. Please forward a response to the town office in Ashburnham, MA advising the town officials on the importance of the historical piano collection to both their community and to the visitors who travel from afar to view/play their collection.

The Select Board
Town Hall
Main St
Ashburnham, MA 01430

Long live our passion for the piano!

Terry,

I received an email from Brian (Reliv4all) about this as well. He was at a concert last week, and Patricia spoke to him about this. He has placed brochures about the museum all over the bulletin boards at New England Conservatory where his son studies piano.

I will be attending a concert today, and I will see what I can do. Perhaps we could:

---- Have a Piano World Petition sent to the town hall. (imagine 14,000 - Plus signatures!)

---- An Piano World Piano Party in Ashburnham.
We could do one of our big bashes, with everyone invited including the public. The only difference would be a big fund raiser as well to help support the museum.

---- I'll try again with public TV. WGBH never responded back, but I have some friends in public radio so perhaps I can get them to help this time. I could help put together a program about the museum and help spread the word. In addition, mentioning what the evil town officials wish to do would maybe scare them out of it.

Anyway these are a couple of ideas that have bounced around my hollow head just now.

I am truely saddened by this, and it really is too bad that these town officials do not realize the value this museum brings to their venue. I am sure if this was a sports museum, they wouldn't think about this!

As visitors, we support the local merchants. I know I do by purchasing stuff at the convenience store. I also end up filling my gas tank before I leave. This is only a small example of what's going back to the town out of this.

There are plenty of empty building in the town, so why don't the officials look into leasing one of those? They don't know how difficult it would be to move this valuable collection elsewhere. I am sure if worse came to worse, the Fredericks could move the collection to Fitchburg, who I am sure would want the added-value and business a venue such as this brings. Fitchburg, and the surrounding mill towns have plenty of empty mills, which make very nice concert halls and museum space.


John

Terry,

Are these people nuts? Do they not realize what a wonderful and unique historical collection they have right in their town?

Does the Town Hall / Board have an email address too?

I like John's suggestions, and I agree we should write to the board, but if we had an email address we could also email them.

John... maybe Scott Houston (the Piano Guy) has some connections too.

I have to imagine some of our members are involved in other media too (newspapers, magazines, TV, etc.)

Here is one of the tours I took with a group of our forums members, we had a great time...
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/22/43.html

Seeing, hearing, and playing all those fantastic historical pianos is an experience you don't forget.

Best,

Frank B.

I'm dashing out of here in a few minutes to attend the last concert for the fall season, so I'll talk to Pat regarding the email.

I'm guessing she had her reasons for requesting a reply of support by snail mail.

I had a few brief moments after todays concert to discuss further details of Ashburnham politicians with Pat Frederick.

During our discussion Pat agreed that also using email would be as beneficial as forwarding a note through the US Postal Service.

This link will take you to the front page of the Ashburnham website

As you scroll down to view the towns "Culture and Recreation" sights, you can't help but wonder why the Frederick Historical Piano Collection and Study Center is not listed????!!!! :b:


You'll find an email address for the Town Selectment under, Government, Board of Selectman.

sturcotte@ashburnham-ma.gov

This email address is for Sylvia Turcotte who is the Admin Asst for the selectmen.

Apparently the selectman don't have email addresses!! :rolleyes:

More info:
http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_4458050

They are having a meeting tonite. Emails might be in order?

It seems that Whidden is the one proposing the change:
"Jim Whidden, a member of the Town Hall Renovation Committee, has proposed that town officials move some municipal offices into the adjacent Stevens building while the town hall undergoes renovations next year."

Seems that Jonathan Dennehy, who is Chairman of Board of Selectman is running for State Representative, although his term for Chairman is not up until 2007. His email for election is
jmd@dennehy.us

Mark Carlisle (978) 827-5080 21 Water St, Ashburnham, MA 01430 ; Selectman

Christopher Gagnon, could not find address or email, but seems to be supporting the Fredericks

Local Newspaper:
www.sentinelandenterprise.com

I've emailed the following letter to Mr. Dennehy...

Dear Mr. Dennehy,

My name is Frank Baxter, I am the founder and owner of Piano World (www.PianoWorld.com), one
of the most popular piano web sites in the world.

It has come to our attention that the town of Ashburnham is considering breaking the lease the Frederick's have
to house their rare and historically significant collection.

We would respectfully ask the town to reconsider this misguided move.

Our 19,000+ piano forums members, and literally millions of visitors are all piano enthusiast.
We appreciate the beauty and and rarity of these incredible instruments.

Many of our members have visited the Frederick's collection (spending money in your fine town when we do).
These are one-of-a-kind irreplaceable pianos, whose historical significance can not be overstated.

There have been many articles written (in newspapers and magazines) about the Frederick's collection and your town.
There have also been many posts on our world famous piano forums, giving glowing reviews of the pianos, the
Frederick's, and the town of Ashburnham.

The collection is truly a national treasure, and should be treated as such.

The old library is the perfect setting for this display, they compliment each other well.
Whenever the collection is mentioned, the town and library are mentioned too, they have become as one.

It would be a travesty to separate the Frederick's collection from the setting everyone now associates it with.

Instead of considering kicking them out of their home, you should be celebrating (and promoting) the unique value
their collection brings to your town.

Please exercise good judgement here, and convince the town to let this musical treasure remain in it's home.
Thank you for understanding, and for doing the right thing.

Sincerely Yours,

Frank Baxter
Founder/Owner
Piano World
www.PianoWorld.com
Home of the World Famous Piano Forums
http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php

October 16, 2006

What a lack of foresight, not to mention a dearth of civic pride, to consider disenfranchising the Frederick Historical Piano Collection. Most towns would rally to support this type of collection and promote it as a genuine asset. Shame.

Neil Stannard, DMA
Concet Pianist

I can't believe how some people could even come up with the idea of shutting down a place like this.

Here's my letter:

Mr. Dennehy,

It has been called to my attention that your town selectmen are considering making the old library building unavailable to the Frederick Historic Piano Collection. This is a mistake.

The lasting symbol of greatness for any city is how its government supports and facilitates art. The government of Ashburnham has done great credit to itself by creating a home for these rare instruments and allowing the Fredericks to display them with their vast and intimate knowledge. The collection and its guardians are rare and unique treasures. I visited a few years back and was thoroughly enchanted. I also spent money in Ashburnham as a tourist. I have subsequently sent numerous people there who likewise contributed to your local economy. The Collection is a jewel in your community's crown and should remain unmolested indefinitely. In many ways, it has put Ashburnham on the map.

We rarely have a chance to do a verifiably right thing. This is your community's chance to display wisdom, foresight and dedication to a quality of life.


Sincerely,

Sam Casey
Marshfield Missouri.

this is crazy and makes me really sad as i have not gotten a chance to visit yet. i have sent an email to dennehy to ask him to help make sure the place stays where it belongs and that the town should honor their word about the lease contract.

I sent an email, as well. I made sure to point out that, altho the opinion of an out-of-state person may not seem important, those who do travel to Ashburnham usually end up spending money while there, and that is a plus for the town itself. Hey, money talks, especially to a politician, right???

Great, thanks everyone.
Please keep the emails, snail mail, and/or calls coming. This is important.

One of our members emailed me this...

==================================================
Don't know, but it might help to get emails going right away. Our city council at least reads them and actually reacts to them at times :-)


sturcotte@ashburnham-ma.gov


The above is the city of Ashburnham Selectmen's Administrative Assistants email (Sylvia Turcotte).


Verify it at http://www.ashburnham-ma.gov/ Go to the boxes and on the left is a Selectmen button, click on it and her addy is at the bottom.


Already sent her a note.

===============================================

someone should write a mail... and then we should all send the same mail with all our different accounts
(i have 3 accounts, hotmail, gmail, and yahoo... xD)

or have signatures... a programmer may know how to make someone enter in certain webpage and sign... then we send them a mail with all the signatures :p

Pianoworld has 19000 members so it wouldnt be difficult to reach a high number of signs...

Fortunately or unfortunately, this is a wake up call for the Frederick Collection. Their use of a public building is probably not a viable long run arrangement. If we succeed in getting the town to back off for the moment, there is no guarantee that the lease will be renewed when it expires. Then everything that they have put into the building may be wasted investment.

Local politics can be quite volatile. If the supporters of the Frederick Collection want stability, they may have a breathing space in which to think about acquiring their own building. That way they could tailor its structure to their needs without fearing the consequences of the politics of the moment.


P.S. Xav, PW may have 19K who have signed up over the years, but the number of active members is far smaller.

Just sent an email
What brought such an idea, really!

Here's my email to Mr. Dennehy,

Dear Mr. Dennehy,

I would like to add my voice to the others who have e-mailed their concerns over the town's potential early termination of the lease that permits the Frederick Collection to use a town building. A collection of usable historical instruments of this sort is a treasure. One aspect of good government is facilitating the development of more resources like this for public use. Unfortunately, the debate over early termination of the lease sends exactly the wrong signal about public commitment to the arts and about public commitment period.

I also note that the Ashburham web site makes no mention of the Frederick Collection under Culture & Recreation. This may be a simple omission, but it can also be interpreted as a sign of what is considered culturally important and what isn't.

I live in Williamsburg. At present we have one historic instrument, a fully restored 1816 Broadwood Piano that is the twin of one sent to Beethoven in Vienna. My thirteen year old son recently had the opportunity to play music of the period on this piano. Like many of the pianos in the Frederick Collection, our Broadwood isn't merely a museum piece. That one experience is such an opportunity for a young musician to understand music in a new way. You have a complete collection of such instruments in your city. Please cherish it, or one day you may awake to find that it has moved elsewhere where it is valued more highly.

Here's mine:

Dear Ms. Turcotte,

I understand that you are the contact person for the Town Selectmen. Could you please pass on this letter to them?

I am writing because I recently became aware that discussion had taken place regarding a proposal to terminate the lease for the building where the Frederick Historic Piano Collection is currently housed. I hope that your board will reconsider this proposal. Pianos are not easily moved (particularly fragile historic specimens), and being forced to move could very easily mean the dissolution of the exhibition.

I suppose you may wonder why somebody who does not live in the area would care. Although I live in Kentucky, I plan to visit Boston for a conference next spring, and on my travel agenda was a side trip to see these pianos. I would be very disappointed if that opportunity were denied.

It seems strange to me that a city would not take advantage of its unique features. Pretty much any city these days has Walmart, Starbucks, or even art galleries and theaters. Many cities will also have aquariums and science or natural history museums. But how many cities in the United States have a museum of antique pianos? Rather than undermining this collection, all of you selectmen should revel in it and support this very important civic asset.

Yours truly,

Monica Kern
Lexington, KY

I've never been to the Frederick Historic Piano but would love to visit this great place.

Sent an email just now, hope that all of this interest from in and out of state influences their decision so that we might have the opportunity to see what must be a great museum.

These selectpersons must have their heads in the sand - what in the world are they thinking of?

I have sent off my letter of support for the museum. Hopefully Ms. Turcotte's email box isn't too full. (or maybe it is better that it is stuffed with support for the museum).

John