Winsor Bell
- Title:
- Winsor Bell
- Collection:
- Campus Artifacts, Art & Memorabilia
- Creator:
- Meneely Foundry
- Photographer:
- Espinosa de los Monteros, Pamela
- Date:
- 1982
- Location:
- McGraw Tower entry lobby, Cornell University
- Country:
- United States
- ID Number:
- artsdb_1582
- File Name:
- artsdb_1582.jpg
- Work Type:
- chimes (bells)
- Subject:
- Bells
- Image View Type:
- General
- Image View Description:
- Front View
- Description:
- Inscription on bell reads: Given in loving memory of Andrew Leon Winsor, Ph.D '29 and Catherine Winsor Pringle, A.B. '45 by INA N. Winsor In 1982, two new bells, cast by the Paccard Foundry in France, were added to the Cornell Chimes in McGraw Tower. One of these bells was a recast of an existing Meneely bell. The other bell, referred to here as the Winsor bell, was a gift from Ina N. Winsor and it extended the instrument to a range of 19 bells. Sounding the highest note of the chime, the Winsor Bell is tuned to a high A and weighs 203 pounds. For comparison, the lowest note of the chimes, the low C, weighs 4,830 pounds. The addition of this bell expanded the possibilities for new musical transcriptions, and several pieces using this note have been added to the music collection which numbers over 2,000 titles. The Cornell Chimes began with the opening of Cornell University in 1868. The nine original bells were cast by the Meneely Foundry in West Troy, now Watervliet, New York. Over the years, Meneely also cast several additional bells for the Cornell Chimes before the foundry closed in 1952. Because each foundry’s bell design has its own harmonic signature, the two Paccard bells installed in 1982 sounded noticeably different from the Meneely bells. In preparation for the Cornell Chimes renovation and tuning project, a new high A bell was cast by Meeks, Watson & Company in Ohio. This test bell was meticulously designed to match the harmonic profiles of the existing Meneely bells. The process was a success and the Winsor Bell was retired from the Cornell Chimes in 1997. It is now on display as part of the permanent collection of University Archives. The bell was formerly displayed in the A. D. White Library of Uris Library, before being moved to the current location in the clocktower entry lobby.
- Repository:
- Cornell University
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The content in the Campus Artifacts, Art & Memorabilia Collection is protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are Cornell University Library and the Cornell Association of Professors Emeritus. This collection was created by Cornell University Library in 2010, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Howard Howland. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact the Cornell Association of Professors Emeritus at cape@cornell.edu for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.