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The National Music Museum (or "Shrine to Music Museum") in Vermillion South Dakota (at the University of South Dakota). The museum contains over 10,000 music instruments, including many extremely rare and highly valuable pieces. Pipe organ by Christian Dieffenbach, Bethel Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1808. Built for Zion Lutheran and Reformed Church near Orwigsburg, PA, for $300. Dedicated October 16, 1808. Used until 1941, then stored in a barn until 1968. Single-manual, six stops. Tracker action. Polychromed case pipes. One of the earliest and best-preserved American organs. Christian Dieffenbach (1769-1829), the great-grandson of Germans who immigrated to America in 1710 from Weisloch, just south of Heidelberg in the lower Rhine valley, is the second of four generations of Pennsylvania German organ builders. Christian, active from about 1800 to 1820, and his grandson, Thomas (1821-1900), active 1850 to 1891, were the most productive of the family. Christian is known to have been involved in the building of at least ten instruments, of which this and two others survive, one at the Berks County Historical Society Museum, the second at Altalaha Lutheran Church in Rehrersburg, PA.(8/13/2004)