Within the last 10 years - Organ case and church interior from rear gallery (Photograph from an archival source: Museum website, submitted by Scot Huntington/Scot Huntington)
OHS convention: 1968
2004-10-30 - Relocated and rebuilt organ originally built by Pratt for Immanuel Episcopal, Bellows Falls, Vermont. Altered. Restored Andover 1964, #R-62, 1-5. -Database Manager
2022-04-02 - The double-rise reservoir is intact, but is said to have lost its feeders and pumping mechanism in 1963, a serious loss. The reservoir was releathered in 2006 by Foley-Baker, and a new Ventus blower was installed at that time. All ranks except the Dulciana are wood, with metal trebles for the smallest pipes. The Dulciana is a spurious set of 19th-century open metal pipes of unknown origin, and of smaller scale than the holes in the original rackboard were meant to hold. The facade pipes are gilded half-round wooden dummies, that have been over-painted with gold paint. There is a hole in the baseboard which could have been either a machine stop or a foot-pumping pedal for the organist, but all traces of the mechanism are gone. Likewise the knob and shank for the Sub Bass are not connected to anything, so it is not known whether this was simply a preparation for a stop never installed, or if this controlled some manner of coupler mechanism. The woodwork of the lower console and baseboard is original, and nothing like a pedalboard was ever installed here. The center portion of the facade lifts out, with some difficulty, and this is the access for tuning, the stops laid out with tallest ranks at the back and smallest at the front. The organ has been tuned in equal temperament since 1963. The wood pipes have had their tops savagely hacked, and cardboard extensions were installed to bring the pipes to pitch. The metal pipes have all been trimmed and fitted with slide tuners, so all evidence of the original pitch and temperament have been lost. This is the only authenticated Pratt church organ extant, the other surviving instruments are all small residential chamber organs in plain cases. Other than pipework, the organ is in a reliable historic state. -Scot Huntington
2025-04-07 - The last sentence of my 2022 update is incorrect. I recently (4/6/25) visited the Pratt church organ (No. 1, 1799) now at the Conant Library in Winchester, NH, hometown of Henry Pratt. While the cases are different, the two surviving Pratt church organs are tonally identical, and the Winchester organ is nearly completely unaltered and is in more authentic and reliable condition than the tonally altered Sturbridge organ. The Winchester organ will serve as the reference model for the upcoming restoration of the Sturbridge organ. The diagonal wedge reservoir at Winchester suggests the rectangular reservoir at Strubridge receives close scrutiny as to its originality. -Scot Huntington
Examination of extant organ. Source: Taken from console Apr. 3, 2022
Henry Pratt (ca. 1826) restored: Andover Organ Co. (Opus R-62, 1964) Center Meeting House Sturbridge Village, Mass. Compass: GGG,AAA-f58 A440, equal temperament MANUAL [unenclosed] Dulciana spurious, open common metal* [St. Diapason] stopped wood, stop label missing Principal open wood [Twelfth] open wood, common metal trebles, stop label missing Fifteenth open wood, common metal trebles * a 19th-century set of replacement Dulciana pipes, installed 1958 or 1964. The rack board originally held pipes of slightly larger scale. Pipes shortened and fitted with slide tuners in 1958 or 1964. Feeder and pumping mechanism removed and discarded 1964. Double-rise reservoir original, releathered and new Ventus blower 2007.
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