National Music Museum

National Music Museum

The National Music Museum (NMM) is a musical instrument museum in Vermillion, South Dakota. It was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University of South Dakota. The NMM is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

The NMM's renowned collections, which include more than 15,000 American, European, and non-Western instruments from all cultures and historical periods, are among the world's most inclusive. They include many of the earliest, best preserved, and historically most important instruments known to survive. The quality and scope of the NMM has earned it international recognition.

The NMM was founded as a partnership between The University of South Dakota, which provides staff and facilities for preservation, teaching, and research, and the Board of Trustees of the NMM, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation that is responsible for acquisitions, public exhibiting, and programming.

The NMM was established around the private musical-instrument collection, numbering approximately 2500 instruments, of Arne B. Larson. Larson's son, Dr. Andre P. Larson, was the founding director of the museum until his retirement in 2011. The second (and current) director is Dr. Cleveland Johnson.

The NMM is housed in a building (originally the University's library, built in 1910 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie's library building program), where over 1,000 representative instruments are exhibited in nine galleries. The Arne B. Larson Concert Hall has superb acoustics and provides a perfect setting for performing and recording music played on original instruments of various historical periods and cultural milieu. There is a specialized library, extensive study-storage areas, and a laboratory for the conservation and restoration of the instruments. There are violin-making tools and Baroque fittings, early harpsichord and fortepiano tuning hammers, and 1,000 brass instrument mouthpieces from virtually every turn-of-the-century manufacturer.

It also has rich holdings of related objects and archival materials, such as the unequaled Salabue-Fiorini-De Wit-Hermann-Witten-Rawlins Collection of 650 violin makers' labels. The American musical instrument manufacturers archives is the largest of its kind.

Location

414 E Clark Street
Vermillion, South Dakota
USA

Getting There

The National Music Museum is located in Vermillion, South Dakota, on the campus of the University of South Dakota. Here are some options for public transportation to get there:

Bus: The Vermillion Transit System offers bus service throughout the city, including the university campus. You can take Route 1 or Route 2 to get to the museum. Visit their website for schedules and fares.

Taxi: You can take a taxi from anywhere in Vermillion to get to the museum. Some options include Vermillion Taxi and Dakota Cab.

Car rental: If you prefer to have your own transportation, you can rent a car from the Sioux Falls Regional Airport or from one of the many car rental agencies in Vermillion.

Bicycle or walking: If you're staying in the area, you can rent a bicycle or walk to the museum if you're up for a little exercise. There are several bicycle rental shops in Vermillion, and the museum is about a 10-15 minute walk from the university campus.

Nearby Airports

This is a list of primary airports in South Dakota that have scheduled passenger service on commercial airlines.