The Dayton C. Miller musical iconography collection complements
Dr. Miller''s world-renowned collection of flutes at the Library of Congress.
The Miller iconography collection, unknown to many researchers, is an eclectic
but important collection of about 850 prints related to wind instruments
especially, but the prints include keyboard, string, percussion, and exotic
instruments as well.
The Artful Flute: Prints from the Dayton C. Miller Collection
Dayton C. Miller with flute photograph, 1922. Dayton C. Miller Flute Collection, Miller family photographs, no. 66, Music Division, Library of Congress. Introduction Dayton C. Miller (1866-1941),[1] was a professor of physics for fifty years at the Case School of Applied Science (now Case Western Reserve University), in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Miller was a well-respected scientist, inventor and lecturer, much admired by his colleagues.[2]…
Bibliographic Records
Here is a brief explanation of some of the fields in a bibliographic record which relate to a print in the Miller collection. The Artist refers to the actual engraver, etcher, or lithographer who created the print. Similarly, Artist dates, Artist role (engraver, etcher, illustrator, caricaturist, goldsmith, lithographer, etc.), and Artist nationality all refer to the artist who actually created the print. The Title…
Dayton C. Miller Subject Categories
It may be of interest to researchers to review Subject categories assigned to the prints by Dr. Miller himself. When Dr. Miller catalogued his collection, he assigned some general subject categories to the prints with an alphabetic key, A-Z, as follows, though there are no categories for D, I, and J. Each print is identified by a catalogue number, followed by a letter, for…
Featured Iconography
The Iconography below is indexed in alphabetical order by title and not by subject, as Miller had done originally.
On the Identification of Musical Instruments
Detail from L'Accord Parfait (Perfect Harmony) by Bernard Baron, after Antoine Watteau, ca. 1729. Dayton C. Miller Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress The identification of musical instruments in the prints from the Dayton C. Miller Collection is not without difficulties. As in any art works, the artist may or may not draw his subject accurately. An artist often takes liberties in illustrating a…
Sources on Artists and Collectors
Quite often, at least two artists are associated with a print - the engraver, etcher, or lithographer, and the original artist after which the print was copied. The standard is to give the engraver's name first, and then to say "after" the original artist: For example, Bernard Baron, after Watteau; or, Nicolas Dorigny, after Raphael. Short biographies are given for each artist associated with…
