Bogbain now houses over 50 antique accordions. The collection, belonging to Caroline Hunt, is part of a much bigger collection which we aim to have on permanent display in the near future. The display currently shows instruments from Japan, Czech republic, Italy, France, Germany and America as well as a replica of the forefather of accordions- the Chinese "Cheng"

Scotland's Antique Accordion Museum

Caroline Hunt, who owns a large and varied collection of antique
accordions, in March 2008 fulfilled a long held ambition to found an
accordion museum…


After an appeal by BBC Scotland in 2006, Caroline Hunt managed to
realise her vision of an accordion museum in Scotland. With the
assistance of well-known fiddle player Bruce MacGregor, of Blazin’
Fiddles Caroline has set up a permanent exhibition at Bogbain Farm
(approx 2 miles south of Inverness on the A9), which was opened on March
26th 2008.


Initially there are approximately 50 accordions displayed at the end of
one building and in the dining room - but plans are in hand to convert
more farm buildings and it is hoped to expand in due course. The
instruments on display are about a quarter of the entire collection and
these will be rotated from time to time, so visitors will not
necessarily see the same instruments on every visit.


Although the accordion is not an instrument that originated in Scotland
(neither did fiddles and bagpipes!) it has been adopted as an instrument
regularly used for Scottish music for well over 100 years. Sir Jimmy
Shand popularised it in the 1955 with The Bluebell Polka, which reached
Number One in the pop charts!


On display is an example of a Sheng, the reed instrument from which the
accordion is descended, which was invented in China in 1740. Mouth
organs and harmoniums are also descended from this and a very rare
Russian poster can be seen depicting the accordion family tree from 1740
until the present time. Instruments on display are dated from 1840, from
France, Italy, Germany, Russia, USA, China, Japan, Czechoslovakia and
Poland. There are ones with bells, ones with horns, ones with unusual
keyboards and ones beautifully decorated with wood and mother of pearl
inlay.


Caroline was originally inspired to set up an accordion museum in
Scotland after visiting the amazing Museo della Fisarmonica museum in
Castelfidardo, Italy. The museum in Castelfidardo has kindly donated a
complimentary copy of the DVD that is routinely shown to visitors, which
we hope to show to visitors to Bogbain.

International support has also come from Yoshiya Watanabe, an accordion
researcher from Japan, who very generously went to an auction in Tokyo
and bought an accordion and gifted it to Caroline’s museum! He is fluent
in German and English and also
translated Annie Proulx’s book Accordion Crimes into Japanese, a copy of
which has been very kindly donated.

The accordion is very much an international instrument - popular all
over the world. It is also a versatile instrument - not just used for
Scottish music, it is also used for Jazz, Cajun music, classical music
and on display are details of a letter from the Pope in 1946 decreeing
the accordion suitable to replace Church organs in Catholic Churches!
Portable - unlike a piano - there are examples of models for every
budget - from expensive, highly decorative, curved keyboard piano
accordions used in 1930s by bands in the London hotels to cheap ‘bothy’
boxes on Scottish crofts - even the Queen and Prince William have had
accordion lessons and Charlie Chaplin and John Lennon were also
proficient players.


Although the instruments on display will not be playable ones, on some
Sundays, and with some advance warning, some other rare playable
accordions may occasionally be available for visitors to play.