The Meisel Family Violin Collection Kurt Meisel, left, and his son, Lothar, represent the eighth and ninth generations of a long line of violin makers who began working in Klingenthal, The Vogtland (Germany), in the late 1600s. Highlights of the Collection... The Meisel Family Violin Collection consists of seventeen bowed stringed instruments made by eight generations of the Meisel family of The Vogtland (Germany) and the USA. Go to annotated checklist for complete details. Lothar Meisel... The last of nine generations of violin makers who began working in The Vogtland in the late 1600s, Lothar Meisel escaped from East Germany in 1949, went to England, and brought his parents out a few years later. They lived first in Cleveland, Ohio, then settled in Owatonna, Minnesota, in 1957. An interview with Lothar Meisel and his father, Kurt, taped by Museum staff in 1994, documents the life stories of the eighth and ninth generations of this long line of violin makers. Two violas from the Meisel Collection are on display in the Cutler Gallery. The other instruments are available for examination by appointment (see access guidelines) in the Museum's study-storage areas. For further information about the Meisel Family and the NMM Collection, consult the Bibliography and The Meisel Family Violinmakers, Klingenthal, Vogtland, Saxony by K. Lothar Meisel (Ely, Minnesota: Singing River Publications, 2007), available from NMM Gift Shop. Go to Collections Page Index Go to Cutler Gallery Index Go to Checklist of Bowed Stringed Instruments Made by Members of the Meisel Family Go to Checklist of Bowed Stringed Instruments Made Before 1800 Go to Checklist of Violins Made Between 1800-1849 Go to Checklist of Violins Made Between 1875-1899 National Music Museum The University of South Dakota 414 East Clark Street Vermillion, SD   57069 ©National Music Museum, 1996-2008 Most recent update:   May 5, 2008 You are the 24,820th visitor to this page. The University of South Dakota Return to Top of Page