2004-10-30/2019-04-29 - Note from the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Organ Historical Society, 1991). Edited for the revised OHS Online Database website, 2017. - Michael P. Rathke was with the C.B. Fisk Inc. firm of Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1989. Sources: American Institute of Organbuilders (AIO): 1989 membership roll. Barbara Owen.
2015-10-12/2019-04-29 - Note from OHS Online Organ Database Builders Listing editor Stephen Hall, March 2, 2017. - Michael P. Rathke is a graduate of Ball State and Miami (Ohio) Universities, Michael Rathke has studied organ with Ruth Wakeland and Lenora McCroskey. He received his early organbuilding training with Goulding & Wood, Inc. in Indianapolis; he later joined the staff of C. B. Fisk Inc. in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he served a formal five-year apprenticeship as well as a further two years as a voicer and tonal finisher. After moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas in 1994, he did not work in organbuilding full time; instead working in a related industry, architectural woodwork. He continued organbuilding on a limited basis, which included tuning and maintenance, as well as building his Opus 1, a 3-stop continuo positive organ. After completing his Opus 1, he traveled to England to begin a two-year association with Mander Organs of London, where he assisted in the comprehensive refurbishment of the 1871 Willis organ in London's Royal Albert Hall and restoration of the 1766 George England, Sr. organ at the Danson Mansion in Kent. During this time, he also participated in the tonal finishing of Fisk's landmark instrument in the Cathedral in Lausanne, Switzerland. Michael Rathke returned to the United States in 2004 to resume organbuilding under his own name, incorporating his business as M.P. Rathke, Inc. of Spiceland, Indiana. His focus continues to be the building, restoration, and conservation of mechanical-action instruments. Sources: "About Us" M. P. Rathke, Inc., accessed February 18, 2017, http://rathkepipeorgans.com/about.htm. Used by permission. Michael P. Rathke, email message to editor, February 18, 2017.
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