Citizens of Franklin and the surrounding area, realizing what a treasure the collection was, formed a non-profit corporation to purchase the collection and a building in which to house it.  In a little over 7 months the community and surrounding area was able to raise over $1 million in order to accomplish this task.  The collection was then moved from the DeBence farm to downtown historic Franklin.  It now resides in the old G. C. Murphy 5 & 10 store on Liberty Street.

      The collection is showcased along with a wide range of antiques that have either musical or local significance.  Lighting is provided by the DeBences' collection of over 40 Tiffany-style hanging lamps.

      Many of the instruments in the collection are very rare.  The Berry-Wood A.O.W. is the last of its kind in existence.  Less then 2 dozen WurliTzer Pianinos remain today.  The Cremona J "Tall Case" is one of only a few manufactured.

      Guests not only enjoy seeing these mechanical marvels, they have the opportunity to hear many of them deliver their music of yesterday.

      In Preservation we create a tangible link with the past.  In restoration we take that which was all but lost and recreate it....not as a photograph or an artist's rendering, but as an experience.  An experience in which to see and touch and hear.  This museum, in many respects, is a repository of our past, a time line with which to chart where we have been and perhaps understand where it is we are going.  It is testimony to man's spirit of vision, imagination and creativity...the very building blocks of civilization.