A Brief History of the Conn Company (1874-present)*

by Margaret Downie Banks, Ph.D.
Senior Curator of Musical Instruments
National Music Museum
Vermillion, South Dakota

© Copyright 1997-2009 by The National Music Museum.
All Rights Reserved.
No portion of this site, including this page and any of the separate pages, may be copied, retransmitted, reposted, duplicated or otherwise used without the express written permission of The National Music Museum.

*Excerpted and updated from Elkhart's Brass Roots: An Exhibition to Commemorate the 150th Anniversary of C. G. Conn's Birth and the 120th Anniversary of the Conn Company by Margaret Downie Banks (Vermillion, South Dakota: The Shrine to Music Museum, 1994).

Selected Bibliography

Banks, Margaret Downie. "ASK AMIS: [Conn's Contrabass Sarrusophone]," Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society XX, No. 1 (February 1991): 16.

_______. "Greenleaf Collection at Interlochen," Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society XIX, No. 1 (February 1990): 21-22.

_______. "Violin Making by the Conn Company of Indiana," Journal of The Violin Society of America XI, No. 3 (1992): 31-76.

_______ and James W. Jordan. "C. G. Conn: The Man (1844-1931) and His Company (1874-1915)," Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society XIV (1988): 61-113.

Link to a complete list of Dr. Margaret Downie Banks' publications about the Conn Company.

Butler, George W. The Manual of Elkhart (Elkhart: Mennonite Publishing Co., 1889).

"C. D. Greenleaf, Conn Chairman, Dies July 10th," The Music Trades (August 1959): 29ff.

"Charles Gerard Conn," Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1971 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1971): 774.

"Col. C. G. Conn, 86, is Dead," The Elkhart Truth, January 6, 1931.

Conn, Charles Gerard and Ben Gordon Whitehead. Charles Gerard Conn: A Brief Sketch of Life (n.p.: [ca. 1926]).

Clark, Barbara. "C. G. Conn was Flamboyant Personality," The Elkhart Truth, November 6, 1976.

Deahl, Anthony. A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Elkhart County, Indiana (Chicago and New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1905).

"Fire! Destruction of Conn's Horn Factory," Elkhart Weekly Observer, February 1, 1883.

Freund, John C. "Sketches in the Trade: C. G. Conn, of Elkhart, Ind.," The American Musician (January 26, 1889): 23.

General History of the Music Trades of America (New York: Bill & Bill, 1891).

Greenleaf, Carl. Autobiographical sketch. Unpublished, [ca.1945-1950].

"Henkin Buys C. G. Conn," The Music Trades (September 1980): 18ff.

"Henkin Sells Music Companies," The Music Trades (November 1985): 62-68.

History of Elkhart County, Indiana (Chicago: Chas. C. Chapman & Co., 1881).

Jarman, Rufus. "Big Noise in Indiana," Parts 1 and 2, The Saturday Evening Post, February 7, 1948: 23ff; February 14, 1948: 28ff.

"Leland B. Greenfield [sic] 1904-1978," The Music Trades (April 1978): 71ff.

"New Conn Factory to Rise from Ruins," Elkhart Daily Review, May 23, 1910.

Pictorial and Biographical Memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties (Chicago: Goodspeed Brothers, 1893).

Pickrell, Martha. "Charles G. Conn Who Helped Shape Elkhart's Destiny," The South Bend Tribune, September 1, 1974.

Weaver, Abraham E., ed. A Standard History of Elkhart County Indiana, Vol. I and II (Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1916).

Whitehead, Ben Gordon, "Col. Chas. Gerard Conn," Indianapolis News, February 1, 1902.

Selected List of Newspapers and Periodicals Consulted:

The American Musician
Ameri-Conn
Benham's Musical Review
Berrien County Record
Brainard's Musical World
C. G. Conn's Truth (same as C. G. Conn Co.'s Truth, C. G. Conn's Musical Truth, C. G. Conn Ltd. Musical Truth, and Musical Truth)
Catalina Wireless
Chicago Musical Times
ConnChord
The Dominant
The Elkhart Call
Elkhart Daily Journal
Elkhart Democratic Sentinel
[Elkhart] Democratic Union
Elkhart Truth
Elkhart Monitor
Elkhart Weekly Observer
Elkhart Daily/Weekly/Evening Review
Elkhart Daily/Weekly Sentinel
The Gossip (Elkhart)
Indianapolis News
Instrumentalist
The Metronome
The Music Trades
Musical Merchandise Review
Piano Trade Magazine
Purchaser's Guide to the Music Industries
South Bend Tribune
Trumpet Notes
Washington Evening Times

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