History of the Collection
The Tilburg factory KESSELS (1886-1955) grew into a globally renowned producer of virtually every musical instrument imaginable. But the Kessels story not only lives on in memories. It is tangibly preserved in a unique and multifaceted collection: a heritage that started with a few former employees and, via a private museum, eventually came into the safe hands of the Kessels Foundation.
In the nearly 70 years of the Kessels factories' existence, almost all types of musical instruments were produced, not only brass and woodwind instruments, but also string and percussion instruments, pianos, pianolas, harmoniums and attributes for brass bands and harmonies. In total, more than half a million musical instruments were made, which found their way all over the world.
The foundations for the current Kessels’were laid by former employee Bert Passier, whose father Jan had also worked at Kessels . In 1939, he took over the collection of around 120 instruments and materials that had been preserved by Mathieu and others. In 1986, one hundred years after the company was established in Tilburg, Bert Passier, with the help of a number of volunteers, opened a musical instrument museum on Nijverstraat in Tilburg.
In 2006, the premises had to be vacated and the collection was temporarily housed in a shed on Lovense Kanaaldijk. The collection has expanded over the years and now comprises several hundred Kessels instruments, a large number of special musical instruments and prototypes, a collection of non-Western musical instruments, workbenches, parts and tools, and documentation and sheet music.
Apart from a section owned by KESSELS, a large part of the Kessels archive is in the Tilburg Regional Archives. In 1993, an analysis of the Kessels archives appeared from the hand of researcher L.F.P.M. de Brouwer (ISBN 90-71241-11-4)
Most of the current collection was donated by the Passier family (in particular Mrs Passier-Menne) to the Musical Instrument Maker's Museum Foundation (to be called KESSELS) in 2011. This was on the express condition that the collection would end up in a 'museum' within five years. In 2016, the collection finally came into the possession of the Kessels Foundation.
Apart from this donation, a large number of Kessels instruments have also been acquired, filling gaps in the original collection or otherwise representing an aspect of Kessels production.
The current Kessels collection consists of musical instruments (mainly brass, wood, pianos and harmoniums), workbenches, workshop materials and tools, paraphernalia, sheet music and archives.
