With Belle Skinner's untimely death in 1928, her brothers, Joseph and William, would work to preserve and share the treasures of her estate, including her world-renowned rare instrument collection.
While the house remained owned and occupied by the Skinner family for three more decades, according to the United States Office of Education, in 1930 the Music Room housing the Belle Skinner Collection of Old Instruments was established as a museum open to the public.
Its hours were described in 1937 through at least 1946 as being limited to 2:30 to 5pm on Fridays, or otherwise by appointment, with tickets sold at the Skinner Silk Mill offices of 208 Appleton Street, and admission limited to 6 to 8 people at a time.
From 1930 to 1933, it was maintained by Nils J. Ericsson, a pupil of Arnold Dolmetsch who worked at Boston’s Chickering & Sons before becoming curator in 1923, and assisted Dolmetsch with his restoration of many of Belle Skinner’s instruments.
In the midst of cataloging the instruments of the collection, Ericsson however died suddenly on February 17, 1933 as a result of an operation at Springfield Hospital.
Following his death, his work was assumed by one of his protégées, Fanny Reed Hammond, a musician, musical arranger, and wife of the noted organist William Churchill Hammond.
She would remain curator of the collection until its move to Yale University in July 1959.
For the three decades that the music room was open, Wistariahurst would host many social clubs, colleges, and musicians, including Serge Koussevitzky, director and conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who described it as "a collection of superlatives".
Hammond would also give the occasional recital on the instruments to various groups, such as the Sunderland Woman’s Club.

In the mid-1950s, one of the Skinner heirs, Elizabeth Kilborne Hudnut, made strides to render the collection’s treasures more accessible to the public.
In 1955 she would invite a group of musicians from Vox Records to make the first public recordings of the collection, including Bruce T. Simonds, a former dean of the Yale School of music.
The resulting album was a two disc collection called Spotlight on Keyboard, featuring the instruments as well as other collections, as part of a broader series illustrating the evolution of musical instruments across the centuries.
Though the effort to capture the qualities of these historic instruments was praised by music critics, the release was also panned by some, including one reviewer in Gramophone who lamented “unfortunately the recording techniques used are so poor that the net result is an often unacceptable sound”.
Though this would be the only Wistariahurst album on a record label, in 1958 and early 1959, Elizabeth would commission private pressings of two more albums, narrated by Mrs. Hammond, which offered a history of the collection as well as explanations of the stories of each recorded instrument.
By this time however, despite Elizabeth’s efforts, the two other heirs of the collection, Robert Stewart Kilborne, and William Skinner Kilborne, no longer had interest in maintaining it.
In May of 1959, after several months of discussing the donation of the Wistariahurst estate to the City of Holyoke, the heirs were approached by Sibyl Marcuse, who had recently become director of Yale’s fledgling instrument collection, a 1900 donation by New England Steinway dealer Morris Steinert.
Struggling to find a permanent home for a collection deemed unimportant by administrators, she sought to add to the collection to a degree that it would be so impressive as to warrant its own space.
Ultimately it was agreed that the two nephews, Yale alumni, would donate their stake in the collection to the University, while the remaining stake, that of Elizabeth, was purchased for $47,000 (approximately $416,000 in 2020 USD), with funds raised by the Friends of Music at Yale.
The Wistariahurst estate was donated to the City in-full the following month, and by the end of July 1959, the last of the rare instruments had been moved to Yale's campus in New Ha
With Belle Skinner's untimely death in 1928, her brothers, Joseph and William, would work to preserve and share the treasures of her estate, including her world-renowned rare instrument collection. While the house remained owned and occupied by the Skinner family for three more decades, according to the United States Office of Education, in 1930 the Music Room housing the Belle Skinner Collection of Old Instruments was established as a museum open to the public. Its hours were described in 1937 through at least 1946 as being limited to 2:30 to 5pm on Fridays, or otherwise by appointment, with tickets sold at the Skinner Silk Mill offices of 208 Appleton Street, and admission limited to 6 to 8 people at a time. From 1930 to 1933, it was maintained by Nils J. Ericsson, a pupil of Arnold Dolmetsch who worked at Boston’s Chickering & Sons before becoming curator in 1923, and assisted Dolmetsch with his restoration of many of Belle Skinner’s instruments. In the midst of cataloging the instruments of the collection, Ericsson however died suddenly on February 17, 1933 as a result of an operation at Springfield Hospital. Following his death, his work was assumed by one of his protégées, Fanny Reed Hammond, a musician, musical arranger, and wife of the noted organist William Churchill Hammond. She would remain curator of the collection until its move to Yale University in July 1959. For the three decades that the music room was open, Wistariahurst would host many social clubs, colleges, and musicians, including Serge Koussevitzky, director and conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who described it as "a collection of superlatives". Hammond would also give the occasional recital on the instruments to various groups, such as the Sunderland Woman’s Club.
In the mid-1950s, one of the Skinner heirs, Elizabeth Kilborne Hudnut, made strides to render the collection’s treasures more accessible to the public. In 1955 she would invite a group of musicians from Vox Records to make the first public recordings of the collection, including Bruce T. Simonds, a former dean of the Yale School of music. The resulting album was a two disc collection called Spotlight on Keyboard, featuring the instruments as well as other collections, as part of a broader series illustrating the evolution of musical instruments across the centuries. Though the effort to capture the qualities of these historic instruments was praised by music critics, the release was also panned by some, including one reviewer in Gramophone who lamented “unfortunately the recording techniques used are so poor that the net result is an often unacceptable sound”. Though this would be the only Wistariahurst album on a record label, in 1958 and early 1959, Elizabeth would commission private pressings of two more albums, narrated by Mrs. Hammond, which offered a history of the collection as well as explanations of the stories of each recorded instrument. By this time however, despite Elizabeth’s efforts, the two other heirs of the collection, Robert Stewart Kilborne, and William Skinner Kilborne, no longer had interest in maintaining it. In May of 1959, after several months of discussing the donation of the Wistariahurst estate to the City of Holyoke, the heirs were approached by Sibyl Marcuse, who had recently become director of Yale’s fledgling instrument collection, a 1900 donation by New England Steinway dealer Morris Steinert. Struggling to find a permanent home for a collection deemed unimportant by administrators, she sought to add to the collection to a degree that it would be so impressive as to warrant its own space. Ultimately it was agreed that the two nephews, Yale alumni, would donate their stake in the collection to the University, while the remaining stake, that of Elizabeth, was purchased for $47,000 (approximately $416,000 in 2020 USD), with funds raised by the Friends of Music at Yale. The Wistariahurst estate was donated to the City in-full the following month, and by the end of July 1959, the last of the rare instruments had been moved to Yale's campus in New Ha
Wistariahurst