18th- and 19th-century musical instrument makers in the archives: A personal view

Archival research is becoming an integrated part of organological study. Although the field has traditionally relied on surviving instruments as its primary resource, for the last 25 years scholars working on instruments made in Britain have increasingly been using a wide range of archival sources to expand on what we already know about instrument makers. As a result, we are now able to examine aspects of their business world and workshop organisation, as well as finding out about previously invisible individuals whose names do not appear on any surviving instruments. Consequently, we are gaining a much fuller picture of the British musical instrument trade.