Museum seeks new home for pianola rolls

With space at a premium, a Port Chalmers museum cannot afford to keep a collection of recently discovered pianola rolls and is looking for someone to put them to use.

The Port Chalmers Maritime Museum has put a call out for somebody to take a collection of about 60 pianola, or player piano, rolls which were discovered during a recent stocktake.

Port Chalmers Historic Society president and museum volunteer Brian McCormack said it would be great to keep them, but the museum was so full it was not feasible.

There were items tucked away in almost every corner and as a maritime museum it had to prioritise items it could display.

"Space is at a premium here."

Mr McCormack had gone through and categorised each song, most of which were dancing music.

Some highlights included White Christmas, Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major and a selection from Puccini's La Boheme.

The boxes were a little dusty, but the rolls all looked in good condition.

They were probably made about the 1930s and ’40s, but most had few identifying features.

Many had the tempo they were intended to be played at and a country of origin, but no date.

He had only ever seen a pianola about twice and had no idea if the rolls would still play a good tune.

He hoped somebody who could put them to use would want them, as it was "better than them just sitting here".