To the editor:

The most recent article about Bell’s music store and the marches that were performed for the sesquicentennial concert has this writer wondering why more research was not done regarding Olin Bell.

Olin Bell, who founded Bell’s Music with his brother, John, published a work by Carl Preyer, and the work was titled “The Windmill Suite,” Opus 31. This work was dedicated to the Kansas University Class of 1895 and was inspired by the windmill on West Ninth, now the site of College Hill condominiums.

And last but not least, Carl Preyer was the head of the music department at KU, which was housed at the corner of 10th and Massachusetts (aka Berkley and Massachusetts). That corner is now the site of the Masonic Temple, of which Carl Preyer was the organist and custodian of the organ. It was ready for use at the Scottish Rite Temple in 1919.

Are there any historians really around to pursue the connection of Carl Preyer to Lawrence and KU and the 150-year celebration? What are the chances of the organ being heard again at the Masonic Temple? Maybe it is time to bring back Jim Moeser, formerly of the KU School of Fine Arts, for a recital. Include in this recital a concert at Plymouth Congregational Church, at which Professor Preyer played the dedicatory service on Nov. 12, 1922. Twenty-five years later, Professor Preyer was buried on Nov. 12, 1947.

How about some real history of Lawrence and KU?

David Holroyd,

Lawrence