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Musical TV Guide Collection

Musical TV Guide Collection

The driving theme of this collection is the representation of music making on the covers of myriad TV guides, the American Public’s resource for navigating broadcast television in its heyday. These issues cover the spectrum of genres and personalities that brought music to television and the mainstream American consciousness through the latter half of the 20th Century. They include Elvis, The Beatles, Actors, Pop Music, Country Music, Rock and Roll, Classical and Jazz.
Musical Postcard Collection

Musical Postcard Collection

This rich collection of postcards dating back to the late 1800’s provides a stunning window to yesteryear when music businesses communicated via art represented on various philatelic forms. These postcards reveal times when the communication between business and customer had a different timbre and is conveyed through the subjects, styles, texts and colors of earlier times.

About the Library & Resource Center

Established in 1946 when NAMM was only 45 years old, the NAMM Resource Center provides its Members, the media, academic researchers and the general public with access to historical data about this great industry.

Drawing on more than a century of NAMM research, records and archives, the Resource Center has access to everything from statistical records on retail music products sales to videotaped interviews with more than 1,000 of the people who have shaped this industry's history. The broader scope of the collections is the history of the music products industry. Within that broader scope, materials are categorized into five main subject categories: NAMM History, Manufacturer History, Retail History, Music History (especially as it pertains to instrument and product innovations) and Legacy Collections.

We hope you find what you're looking for right here, but if you have any questions, please contact us at 760.438.8001 or via e-mail at library@namm.org.

Publications

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2011 NAMM Global Report

NAMM's mission is to unify, lead and strengthen the global music products industry and to increase active participation in music making. In addition,...
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PLAYback Magazine

Previous issues of PLAYback can be viewed in the ARCHIVES section of nxtbook. PLAYback is NAMM's quarterly publication providing Members...

Oral History

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Oral History Video Clip Tutorial

Click on this image to view a brief tutorial on how to easily navigate NAMM Oral History Video Clips.
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Marty Albertson

Marty Albertson began working at the Guitar Center in San Francisco when the small chain’s founder, Wayne Mitchell, was still active in the...
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Chuck Erikson

Chuck Erikson is known as The Duke of Pearl! His business supplies luthiers and large guitar companies with shells and other in-lay products for...
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Nancy Groth-Kersten

Nancy Groth-Kersten is the owner of the Groth Music store in Bloomington, Minnesota. The store is home to a full line of musical instruments,...
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Won Jung Kim

Won Jung Kim is the president of Shimro Musical Instruments Company in Seoul, South Korea. The company is a leader in manufacturing all levels of...
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Hector Olivera

Hector Olivera was born in Argentina where he studied organ with his father, a noted church organist. In 1965 Hector studied at Julliard School of...
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Dr. Lonnie Smith

Dr. Lonnie Smith is among the well respected organists, who demonstrate instruments for fellow musicians. Dr. Lonnie has been a regular performer at...

In Memoriam

Remembering oral history interviewees who passed away in 2012.

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Chuck Barnhouse

Chuck Barnhouse is the third generation to own and operate the C. L. Barnhouse Publishing Company. His grandfather established the firm in 1886 and...
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Rose Wernes Drake

Rose Wernes Drake traveled with her husband, Ivor, when he became the second salesperson hired for the Winter Piano Company following World War II....
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Tom Ostrander

Tom Ostrander was the founder of Colonial Music in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Now a string of stores, the retail company began with the simple idea of...
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Bernard Kalban

Bernie Kalban was one of the great veterans of the music publishing industry. Having worked in the era right after Tin Pan Alley, in the Brill...
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NAMM In Memoriam Industry Tribute 2012

A tribute to our members who passed away in 2011.

What's New

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The Annual Tribute- A Community Comes Together

A first NAMM Show experience is pretty powerful—aside from the countless products and people, there is a warm family feeling present. You see...
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Majeski Family Donates Decades of Back Issues

The Majeski Family has donated decades of Music Trades back issues to the NAMM Resource Center. Courtesy of Paul and Brian Majeski, the Resource...
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From a Blank Page to a Wealth of Knowledge

The journeys to get Oral History interviews include valuable talks about long since-closed companies. When NAMM Historian Dan Del Fiorentino...
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Ray Erlandson's Grandson Donates Personal Papers to NAMM Resource Center

My name is Scott Erlandson and my grandfather served on the NAMM Board and as President in the 1950s.  My grandpa's entire life was dedicated to...
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George Gruhn Receives NAMM Oral History Service Award

The NAMM Oral History program has enjoyed the support, dedication and time of many people within our industry who have supplied us with ideas,...
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Peter Suzuki Donates Personal Papers

Mr. Peter Suzuki, whose career spans important and extensive roles with Steinway and Yamaha, has donated his published writings on the piano...
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Retail Stores in Action!

Retail Stores in Action Visits with retailers remind us of the passion for music. To see a real love for music in action every day, look no further...

©2010 NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants