41st Annual ARSC Conference

“Victorians & Their Music Machines”

Milwaukee, Wisconsin
May 2-5, 2007

It's back to the great Midwest as the ARSC Conference moves to Milwaukee for our 2007 meeting. Our hosts will be the Ward Irish Music Archive and Milwaukee Irish Fest, in conjunction with the Sanfilippo Victorian Palace in Barrington Hills, Illinois.

We'll be staying at the Milwaukee Hilton located on Wisconsin Ave. This historic downtown hotel was completed in 1928 in the Art Deco style and was Wisconsin’s largest and tallest hotel. This fabulous hotel has undergone a major restoration, and will provide accommodations somewhat more luxurious than what we get at a typical ARSC conference. Family members will enjoy Paradise Landing, a 20,000 ft2 indoor water park. (Perhaps we'll hold a discography meeting in the jacuzzi!)

The hotel is centrally located and in close proximity to the Milwaukee Public Museum and the Calatrava addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Another new museum, Pier Wisconsin, will also be open in time for the conference.

The theme of this year's conference is "Victorians & Their Music Machines," and the Program Committee is busy lining up presentations that focus on mechanical music, early recorded sound history and related preservation issues.

On Thursday evening, we will tour the Ward Irish Music Archive at the Irish Fest Center. The Archive is home to a collection of recordings, videos and memorabilia that document Irish America in the entertainment field. A trip to the incredible Sanfilippo Victorian Palace is scheduled for Saturday. The Palace contains the world’s finest collection of automatic musical instruments and largest theater pipe organ (80 ranks). We will have our banquet at the Palace, and enjoy a live organ concert to close the evening.

Visit www.arsc-audio.org for conference information as it unfolds.

If you only go to one ARSC conference in your lifetime, make it this one - and bring your spouse!

The Ward Irish Music Archives at The Irish Fest Center

Established in 1992, the Irish Music Archive houses the largest public collection of Irish music in America. It is named after John J. Ward Jr., father of Irish Fest founder Ed Ward. The archive currently consists of more than 40,000 Irish recordings and pieces of music memorabilia ranging from rare 78 rpm's, LP's and sheet music to song books, instruments, and concert memorabilia. Many of the archives items are extremely difficult to find today.

Sanfilippo Victorian Palace

The Victorian Palace is home of the Jasper Sanfilippo collection of beautifully restored antique music machines, phonographs, arcade and gambling machines, chandeliers, art glass plus much, much more. It also is the home of the worlds largest restored five manual Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ.