The New York Times tracks the move of an Irving Berlin upright piano moved from New York's Lincoln Center to near Independence Mall, where the $150 million National Museum of American Jewish History will open in November.
"This is one of those artifacts that was in our dreams when we started our planning: 'Wouldn't it be amazing if we were able to bring Irving Berlin's piano to the public,' " (museum deputy director Josh Perelman) said. "You can talk about him, you can show a movie about him, but to see the piano, to see the mechanism, to feel, as I did, that you're really in Irving Berlin's shoes--that's something."Berlin bought the piano for $100, big money for a former singing waiter in a Chinatown restaurant, in 1909. He had other pianos later on, but that one was the one he had when he wrote "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911. Original source: New York Times
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