The NMM staff recommends the following sources as dependable resources for research about musical instruments.
• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie (London and New York: Macmillan, 2001)
• The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 2nd edition, Laurence Libin, ed. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014)
• The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2013)
• Grove Music Online
• William Waterhouse, The New Langwill Index: A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors (London: Tony Bingham, 1993).
• Serial numbers for many brass and woodwind instrument manufacturers can be found at the Music Trader website.
• Serial numbers for many piano manufacturers can be found in the Bluebook of Pianos.
• Names, addresses, and product information for current musical instrument manufacturers can be found in The Purchaser's Guide to the Music Industries (Englewood, NJ: The Music Trades Corp.). For further information, visit the Music Trades website.
• Information and statistics about the modern musical instrument industry can be found at the National Association of Music Merchants and Music Trades websites.
• To research musical instrument collections in Europe, consult MIMO (Musical Instrument Museums Online).
• The Galpin Society website contains details of many scholarly articles and books about the history of musical instruments.
• The American Musical Instrument Society website lists articles published in its scholarly journal about musical instruments.
• If you have questions about the care, maintenance, and/or restoration of vintage or antique musical instruments, consult The Care of Historic Musical Instruments edited by Robert L. Barclay.