2004-10-30/2019-09-15 - From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991; rev. ed., 1997, with updated information). — With Brian Fowler firm of Lansing, Michigan, c. 1985; 1985; operated his own firm in Grand Ledge, Michigan, by 1996. Sources: The American Institute of Organbuilders (AIO): 1989, 1996 membership directories. Elizabeth Towne Schmitt. The American Organist May 1985, 80.
2019-09-16/2019-09-16 - From Organ Database New Entries editor James Stettner, September 15, 2019. — Richard Swanson grew up in the towns of Big Rapids and Grand Ledge, Michigan. While he was a junior in high school, he became interested in pipe organ building after observing the moving and reinstallation of a 1929 Möller by the factory. After graduating from high school, he went to work for a series of three organ companies over five years. At Schantz Organ Company, he received training as a flue pipe voicer and tonal finisher. This was followed by a period in which he received a college education and worked many years as a mechanical designer at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University while designing and voicing organs for the Fowler Organ Company on a part-time basis. In 1990, he established his own company, R.T. Swanson, Inc. Since then he has built or rebuilt 31 organs and has assisted other organbuilders with their projects. Source: ChurchOrganTrader.com.
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