The Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments comprises over 2,500 pieces of historical and contemporary musical instruments from all over the world. Built on an initial gift from Frederick Stearns in 1899, the Collection is internationally renowned for its surprising diversity – no other major university collection has such a thorough anthropological approach, exhibiting and promoting instruments from cultures on six continents. It is not only a precious heritage from the past, but also a rich resource for musical, educational, and cultural needs of the present and future. Available to scholars and performers, its many instruments are heard frequently in public performances and discussed in depth through lectures endowed by Virginia Martin Howard.
