2004-10-30/2019-10-04 - From Organ Database Builders editor Stephen Hall, October 4, 2019. — Herman J. Tellers [II] (1904-1988) Grandson of the elder Herman J. Tellers (b.1875, Germany); Son of Heinrich (Henry) Tellers; father of Henry C. Tellers; he re-established the family firm as Tellers Organ Co. of Erie, Pennsylvania, shortly after the end of World War II. The second Herman J. Tellers was the grandson of the elder Herman J. Tellers (b.1875, Germany), the son of Heinrich (Henry) Tellers, and thus, the third generation of organbuilders. The young Herman started with the family business, at that time known as the Tellers-Kent firm of Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1920 at age 16. He spent the next 13 years with the company, learning all aspects of the craft. Business slowed as the economy floundered following the stock market crash of 1929. Finally, the Tellers-Kent firm went bankrupt in 1933, closing the factory and stopping production of new organs. Herman joined other members of the Tellers family doing service work during the remainder of the depression and the subsequent war years. With the end of the war, and the lifting of war time restrictions, Herman was able to re-established the firm, as the Tellers Organ Co. of Erie, Pennsylvania. The new firm was able to grow in the post war boom, building more and larger instruments than its predecessor, and expanding its business beyond the Midwest. The 1950s and 1960s were the glory days for the new Tellers firm. With the slowing of the economy in the early 1970s, and further erosion of business in the electro-pneumatic action market as the result of the organ reform movement, business slowed considerably, and Herman Tellers saw the family business forced into bankruptcy for the second time in 1973. The factory was sold to Lawrence Phelps, who kept part of the workforce and completed the last order. Herman Tellers retired, he remained in Erie until his death in 1988. Herman's son, Henry C. Tellers, continued business in Erie as a service firm, also selling pianos, and becoming a dealer for Rodgers Instruments. Source: Paul E. Fisher, nephew of Herman Tellers, and foreman at the Tellers factory.
2019-10-05/2019-10-05 - 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). — Born c. 1904 in Erie, Pennsylvania, son of Henry Tellers; with Tellers-Kent firm of Erie, Pennsylvania, age 16; established Tellers Organ Co. of Erie, Pennsylvania, 1945; died December 28, 1988 in Erie, Pennsylvania. Sources: Obituary, "Herman J. Tellers" (Erie, Pennsylvania, Daily Times December 29, 1988). David L. Junchen, Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ, vol. 2 (Pasadena: Showcase Publications, 1989), 638. Elizabeth Towne Schmitt.
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