The Historical Society's 140-year-old pipe organ. (Courtesy photo)

The Harvard Historical Society (HHS) is embarking on a campaign to raise funds to have its 1870 George Stevens pipe organ fully restored and to make improvements to the space it occupies to better project the sound of the instrument and to better preserve its restored condition. The bulk of the $110,000 expense for the project is for the restoration that will be performed by the Andover Organ Company (founded in 1948), which has serviced the organ since 1966. Because the organ has received a citation from the National Organ Historical Society, the restoration will be fully documented by Andover Organ. HHS has established an Organ Advisory Committee (OAC) to provide direction for programming a series of organ concerts, managing fundraising efforts such as corporate sponsorships and grant applications, and overseeing the organ restoration.

George Stevens is an important figure in American organ building. In 1820, at age 17, he came to Boston to work for William Goodrich in Cambridgeport. Goodrich is considered the father of the Boston school of organ building. Stevens later bought the firm and formed George Stevens & Co., which lasted until his retirement in 1892. At some point in his career, he served as mayor of Cambridge. The organ he built in 1870 for William Bowles Willard's gift to the Still River Baptist Society is unusual in that it is quite large for a "single manual" (one keyboard) organ of its type. It has 585 pipes and 12 stops. Each stop adds a unique tonal quality across the entire keyboard.

Stevens built more than 800 pipe organs, mostly in the suburbs of New England. According to the Organ Historical Society, only two other of his organs have received an historic certification from them and the Society's is attributed to be the largest (and only single manual) George Stevens organ in existence.

Speaking of the HHS organ in a recent interview, Donald Olson, president of Andover Organ Co., said, "It's kind of a miracle in this day and age to have a manual organ of this size in totally unaltered condition." He explained that most organs underwent a series of alterations over time to standardize their pitch with other instruments, and manual parts get replaced with electronic ones. "This one is all original," he said.

In 1966, the Still River Baptist Society joined with the Evangelical Congregational Church in Harvard and sold its meetinghouse to HHS. For a brief time, an Episcopalian congregation rented the building to use as a church and used the organ. Andover Organ serviced it during those years, but according to Olson, after that it sat unused for about 30 years until the first concert sponsored by HHS in 2006 brought the company back into the picture. As the organ sat more or less just as an artifact, it suffered the effects of aging in a building that underwent various renovations, then remarkably survived a major fire in September 2008. According to Olson, 140 years of dust, dirt, and grime, exacerbated by a recent building preservation project, can become dislodged and fall into the pipes, blocking the air and altering the sound. As for the recent work that was done, Olson said that "Even though it was covered, plaster and other dust managed to get into the instrument."

Awareness of the organ's superior qualities and historical significance came about gradually, according to Denis Wagner, HHS board member and member of the OAC. Wagner said it typically costs about $800 to perform routine maintenance on the organ prior to each concert event. "Unfortunately, the organ had reached the limits of its serviceability, and further maintenance would become more expensive," he said in a recent interview. "We started discussing restoration and requested a detailed quote, since the maintenance that was being performed was expensive and could not return the organ to 100 percent of its ability to play, and could not be guaranteed."

The quote was requested in 2006, when HHS was preparing for a concert featuring Michael Kleinschmidt, then organist at Trinity Church in Boston. Kleinschmidt, preparing to play the organ, took note of its condition, which he thought to be original. Andover Organ pointed out that the organ appeared to be unaltered from its original condition, and offered to do a survey of its condition. And so the process of discovery began.

Around the time the survey results were being reported by Andover Organ, HHS had been arranging for another organ concert, this time featuring renowned organ historian and organist Barbara Owen, a former president of the National Organ Historical Society and author of several books on New England's organ history. Owen immediately took note of the organ's unaltered condition, and provided advice in tandem with Andover's recommendations. She also was able to pinpoint the organ's actual date of construction, given her knowledge of the most intimate details of organ-building in New England, from materials used, right down to details such as the number, and scalloped edges, of the keys.

Owen, a professional consultant on "matters pertaining to the organ," offered her services for free because of her desire to see this unique and historic organ restored and preserved. She has since joined with the OAC as well. Owen formally presented the organ's historic citation during her concert last May, and it will be on display during upcoming concerts. (Currently scheduled events include a concert this Friday, Sept. 24, and a screening of the silent film Nosferatu with specially choreographed organ music played by William Parks, on Oct. 29.)

The survey results from Andover Organ were mostly good and were corroborated and further refined by Owen. The good news was that this rare organ was indeed unaltered (and therefore a candidate for a historical citation) and could be brought to a fully restored condition. There is, however, the reality of aging and materials that are deteriorating and even disintegrating. Felt and other woven materials used to quiet the action of all the moving parts have been worn away and have to some extent been eaten away by moths. The metal pipes (there are wooden ones, too) have a high lead content and are disintegrating to the point where they are in danger of collapsing. There's lots and lots of cushioning material ("bushings" and "punchings") to quiet the action of this entirely mechanical organ and lots of dried-out leather used for hinging wooden slats that need replacing. Extremely thin wooden slats ("trackers") attached to each key (to open air valves) all need replacing; in fact, some are broken. According to Wagner, "We can only get musicians who are sophisticated enough to work around keys that don't work. We've encountered some musicians who simply refuse to play it."

Echoing the observations of Andover Organ, Owen added to the list of concerns some damage (shrinkage) to certain components from dryness due to the building being heated "more often than it was formerly." She has made specific recommendations to improve the space in which the organ resides to prevent further damage from heat. Olson said the restoration can address those concerns as well.

According to Owen, "Organs of this size and tonal quality are ideal for accompanying voices and various instruments, and essential for certain kinds of chamber music." Olson added that Stevens was known for creating organs that produced a sound that was milder than other pipe organs. "It's a very gentle and sweet sounding organ," he said.

To perform a thorough cleaning and restoration, the organ will need to be dismantled and moved to Andover's shop. While it is gone, the space can be improved by removing the walls that were confining the organ and by moving the entire structure forward to better project the sound and to show the original cabinetry that has been concealed by its surrounding structure. Once returned, the pipes will be checked for proper "speech" and regulated in the room for proper balance.

According to Wagner, "This organ represents an incredible window into history, and now is the time to restore it before it is too late." He cited the irreparable condition of the stone barn at the Shaker Village, and the recently demolished "apple house" on West Bare Hill Road as examples of what happens as a result of long-term neglect. He said, "At some point, there would be too much damage to be able to repair it without destroying its historic value. We have pictures of the stone barn standing in the '70s; it could have been saved, and now there's hardly anything left to it."

Wagner is confident that a restoration done by a historical society to a certified historic organ residing in a building on the National Historic Register is of historical and cultural merit significant enough to qualify for grant monies available now for such unique projects and programs.