December 28, 2010 The newest exhibit in the American History
Museum’s Albert H. Small Documents gallery has been a long time
coming. The germ of the idea began in 1967 1966 when Cynthia
Adams Hoover, then a young curator at the American History
Museum, first visited the Steinway family in New York in search
of material for an exhibit on American music. Founded in 1853 by
German immigrants Henry Engelhard Steinway and his three sons,
Charles, Henry and William, Steinway & Sons famously
manufactured pianos that are widely used today in popular and
classical music. On that 1966 visit, a diary kept by William
Steinway caught Hoover’s eye. The entries documented a period
from 1861, three days before Steinway’s marriage, to around the
turn of the 19th century. Hoover found the 2,500-page diary to
be a rich chronicle of 19th century America, with commentary on
events occurring before the Civil War to urban development to
the immigrant experience, all through the lens of a prominent
New York businessman. Hoover persu