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The collection of priceless ancient instruments was donated in 1955 by Lotta Van Buren. Her personal papers were forwarded by the executor after her husband, Henry Bizallion, died in 1960. Early in the year Bizallion had gathered the papers together and organized them in an attempt to write a biography of his wife. He died before its completion.
This collection is open to the public.
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Permission to publish material from Lotta Van Buren Collection must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the Special Collections Board of Curators.
Lotta Van Buren, an outstanding ancient instrument restorer and player, was the grand-niece of President Martin Van Buren. She was born in Boscobel, Wisconsin, November 20, 1877. Her early schooling was completed at State Normal School in Madison, Wisconsin, from which she graduated in June 1896. She taught for three years and then decided to enter Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, to study piano. Later she studied with Harold Bauer in New York and in Europe. She taught piano in New York for many years before starting her career as a restorer of ancient instruments.
She began her performing career with recitals in America and England, later devoting her talents to restoring and collecting instruments. She restored the Steinart Collection at Yale University, and the Cooper Union Collection and Joline Collection at Bernard College. She also assisted the Metropolitan Museum of New York City and Yale University in assembling and restoring their fine collections of old instruments. Her last major work of restoration before retiring was for John D. Rockefeller Jr., at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
Upon retiring in 1940, she moved to California and married an old friend, Henry Bizallion, himself a musician. She died in May, 1960.
The Lotta Van Buren Collection came to Brigham Young University in two segments; one in 1955 consisting of a wardrobe of authentic Elizabethan costumes, a collection of old musical instruments, sheet music and a library of books about the instruments; and another in 1960, consisting of the personal papers of Miss Van Buren and her husband Henry Bizallion.
The valuable instrument collection is composed of seventeen instruments, including an authentic chest of vios, all in playing condition. The two treble viols, the alto, the tenor, and the bass viols were built between 1660 and 1773. One of the bass viols was owned by George Frederic Handel. the keyboard instruments include two clavichords, a virginal, a spinet, and a two-manual harpsichord. A lute, a cittern, a vielle, (or Hurdy-Gurdy), an alto recorder, a Biblical psaltery, and a Pythagorean monochord are the other instruments. The collection has become an integral part of musicological study at Brigham Young University, enabling students to learn old music first hand by preparing and participation in programs utilizing the instruments.
The personal papers consist of recital programs, photos, research notes, lectures, sheet music, news clippings of her concerts, mementoes, and letters written both by Miss Van Buren and Mr. Bizallion. Nearly all of the letters were generated as part of the process of donating the collection to Brigham Young University.
Ancient instruments are on display in the Harris Fine Arts Center, 3rd floor. Photos and glass lantern slides of instruments were transferred to the Special Collections Photo Archive. "What Do You Know About The Piano?" is located in the Film Vault of Educational Media. Musical Dominoes game was transferred to the museum.