The 110th anniversary of the founding of the Holton Company was marked during the summer of 2008 with the donation of a historic “Holtonphone,” along with 368 other musical instruments, to the National Music Museum on the campus of The University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD, by Conn-Selmer, Inc., a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc.

Ornately engraved and decorated with cast brass wreaths, ribbons, and a natural horn extending through a lyre, the mammoth "Holtonphone" was the company's largest Sousaphone model. The bell decoration features a large elk head with 12-point antlers. The 58-inch-tall, model 130 Sousaphone with a 30" bell was marketed in Holton's 1935 catalog as the "Revelation BB-flat mammoth Holtonphone, the size recommended for both band and orchestra."

The company's founder, Frank Holton (1858-1942), was a virtuoso trombone player whose musical career included stints with Hi Henry's Minstrel troupe, the Barnum Circus Band, Ellis Brooks' New York Concert Band, and the Second Regiment Band of Chicago.  In 1892, John Philip Sousa hired Holton to play principal trombone in his new band, a position he held through the band's appearances at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
  
The Holton company's archival records, now preserved at the National Music Museum, date from the late 19th century to the present and are particularly strong for the period 1898-1920. Hundreds of photographs, cartes de viste, and real-photo postcards of bands and soloists from the 1880s to the 1930s, many of which were published in the earliest issues of the company's house organ, Holton's Harmony Hints, are one of the archive's most valuable assets.

The Holton instrument collection consists of 369 musical instruments (prototypes, experimental models, reference and production instruments), as well as parts of instruments, mouthpieces, and related accessories. Even the company's oversized, trombone-shaped weather-vane, which was at one time perched high atop the factory's water tower, has found a home at the National Music Museum.

“Today the Holton brand remains a sound choice for professionals, educators and students world wide”, said Mike Kamphuis, Director of Marketing for Background Brass. “Visit our new Holton website which is dedicated to having all  information about the complete line of Holton horns”. 

Access to the Holton Archive and instrument collection at the National Music Museum may be made by appointment (see www.nmmusd.edu/research.html for further information). For complete information on Holton, visit www.holton-horns.com.

Conn-Selmer, Inc., the largest manufacturer of band and orchestral instruments and accessories in the United States, is a subsidiary of Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. To contact Conn-Selmer, write to P.O. Box 310, Elkhart, IN 46515-0310 U.S.A. or visit www.conn-selmer.com.