About the Organ

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The D.B. Johnson Memorial Organ
Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, Opus 1257, 1955
James F. Byrnes Auditorium

Based on a history of the organ by David Lowry, 2004

The D.B. Johnson Memorial Organ had a unique history even before it was constructed. Fourteen years before the 1952 contract between Winthrop and the Aeolian Skinner Organ Company, discussions were underway regarding acquiring an organ for the College Auditorium (now Byrnes Auditorium). The facility had, in fact, been built many years before with an organ in mind. The wishful thinking took a first step toward reality in 1949 when an “organ fund” was established by alumnae. Soon after, Winthrop President Henry R. Sims and music department head Walter B. Roberts led a committee of administrators and members of the Alumnae Association who set out to raise the funds necessary to acquire an organ befitting the auditorium. The General Assembly agreed to appropriate $35,000 if the alumnae could raise at least $15,000. By May 1951 the alumnae had raised just over $18,000, and along with the state money and some $20,000 in funds courtesy of the Board of Trustees, adequate funding was then in hand to make a Winthrop organ a reality.

Marguerite Tolbert ‘14, chaired the organ fund drive for the alumnae. Committee members were Minnie Moore Johnstone ’36, Helen Robinson ’32, Esther Robinson Smith ’19, Marie Burnham Taylor ’33, Annie Mae Hildebrand ’21, and Ruth Williams ’19, then director of alumnae affairs. Among the notable gifts at the time was a $1,400 donation by the Class of ’14, specifically for chimes.

Aeolian Skinner Organ Company of Boston, Mass., was Winthrop’s vendor of choice from the beginning. The company built some of the finest mid-20th century instruments in the country. Despite doubt on the part of G. Donald Harrison, president and tonal director of Aeolian Skinner, that his company would prevail in a bid process for the organ, it won the contract in 1952. The large four-manual instrument cost Winthrop around $70,000.

The organ was completed in 1955. It was named the D.B. Johnson Memorial Organ for Winthrop’s founding president, David Bancroft Johnson. The organ was placed in two chambers flanking the auditorium’s stage, with large grill openings over the chambers. It was one of the last Aeolian Skinner organs on which Harrison primarily worked before his death in June 1956. Only a few of his organs received a separate ivory plate with his signature, meaning that he was directly responsible for the final voicing. Winthrop’s is one of those rare organs.

The famed American virtuoso Virgil Fox played the inaugural recital on the organ in November 1955. Mai Johnson, D.B. Johnson’s widow, was in attendance.

For the first 10 years after the installation, the college organists were Jeannette Roth, Wilbur Sheridan, Wilmer Hayden Welsh, and George Klump. Mary Elizabeth Dunlap assisted in organ instruction and played a recital annually. David M. Lowry became college organist in 1965 and has been assisted in organ instruction at various times by Dunlap, Mary Lou Paschal, David Richardson, Shirley Fishburne and Richard Peek. During Lowry’s 1970-71 leave of absence, Jeffrey Brandes was the interim organist and instructor. Lowry retired and was named professor emeritus in 1996, and he continues to teach part time.

Many Winthrop undergraduate and graduate students have performed their degree recitals on the organ. In addition, such guest artists as Marie-Claire Alain, Robert Anderson, Robert Baker, David Craighead, Catharine Crozier, Virgil Fox, Fernando Germani, Jerald Hamilton, Yuko Hayashi, Anton Heiller, Paul Jenkins, Wilma Jensen, Jean Langlais, Simon Preston, Alexander Schreiner, Larry Smith, Murray Somerville, John Chappell Stowe, and many others have sat at the console. Those artists and others appeared at the invitation and encouragement of Roberts in the early years, then Jess Casey, former music dean, in later years.

Today the D.B Johnson Memorial Organ stands as one of the country’s prized historic instruments. As the number of nearly pure G. Donald Harrison signature organs has declined over the years, the organ has become even more of a treasure. Winthrop students and the community regularly hear the organ at such annual events as Convocation, the Festival of Carols, and high school graduations that take place in Byrnes. While the organ continues to sound acceptable, its wiring and pneumatic components suffer greatly from age, rendering the instrument increasingly difficult to keep in working order. With the support once again of the administration and alumni, Winthrop recently announced a campaign to raise $400,000 in order to restore the organ to its former glory. For more details on the campaign, click here.

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