Almost anyone who has spent time at Interlochen has stopped at one point or another to marvel at the fascinating musical instruments in the display cases outside the Jesse V. Stone Recreation Building. What many don't realize, however, is that these are but a few samples from Interlochen's historic Carl D. Greenleaf Collection of antique and ethnographic musical instruments.

The collection was originally housed in the Conn Historical Museum of Musical Instruments in Elkhart, Indiana and was donated to Interlochen in 1970 by renowned instrument maker C.G. Conn, Ltd. It was renamed to honor Leland B. Greenleaf, president of Conn from 1958 to 1969. (For more historical information on Conn, please visit C.G. Conn's website and click on "Histories")

The Interlochen Alumni Office and Alumni Board are proud to support curator John Beery's efforts to maintain and stabilize the collection, which includes hundreds of priceless rare and antique instruments. If you would like to arrange a tour of the collection, learn more about it, or support its preservation, please contact the Alumni Office.


THE LELAND B. GREENLEAF COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
In 1969 Leland B. Greenleaf, President of the C. G. Conn Company, presented a large collection of historically significant musical instruments to the Interlochen Center for the Arts. This collection, the work of both Carl Greenleaf and his son, Leland, was on exhibit in Elkhart, IN at the Conn headquarters. Instruments in the Collection represent not only a history of the corporation, but the history of instrument design and manufacture

Valued at $150,000.00 in 1969, the collection contains such unique pieces as the original sousaphone, a Civil War bass drum, a gold cornet given to Patrick Gilmore, and a large assortment of Conn mouthpieces.


THE CONN CORPORATION
Bands were at the center of American popular culture in the middle of the 19th century. Even the Civil War was an era of bands. Ten years after the war a young veteran named Charles Gerhard Conn founded the C. G. Conn Company. It would become one of the country’s most successful businesses. Based upon the manufacture of cornets and mouthpieces, the company was soon making a complete line of band instruments. Endorsed by Sousa, Herbert L. Clark, Arthur Pryor, and many other famous bandsmen, the business prospered for nearly 40 years.


THE GREENLEAF ERA
Early in the 20th century jazz became very popular, and the instrument business changed. A young industrialist named Carl D. Greenleaf purchased the Conn Company in 1915, saw the musical needs and tastes changing in America, and changed his business with the times. Greenleaf recognized the market for saxophones, tooled up to increase saxophone production, and profited from the saxophone craze of the 1920’s. But a second, and even more important event propelled the Conn company into the forefront of instrument business. Greenleaf met young Joe Maddy, recognized the potential market in the new and growing music education movement, and helped Maddy publish a textbook for school music instruction. The “Universal Teacher” enabled the teacher to instruct relatively large groups of various instruments at he same time, which in turn meant many more students could learn music. The Conn Company profited from increased sales, music education made a giant leap forward, and a lifetime friendship between the two men was formed.