When I was a little girl in the 50's my grandparents, who lived in southern Wisconsin, had a piece of furniture they called "the organ".  It stood about 5 feet high and was about 4 feet wide.  It had glass doors on the front bottom where they stored their Books of Knowledge and other reference type books.  I spent many hours on the floor in front of that "organ" reading those books.  Several years later I recall asking my grandmother why "the organ" wasn't an organ but, instead, was a fancy bookcase.  She told me that, years ago, it had been a Kimball organ but had ceased to function and so the insides were removed, doors were made for it and it became a storage cabinet and bookcase.  I don't know if she was just telling me a story to pacify me or if it was fact but it was the only story I ever knew.

In the mid-70s when my grandfather died and my grandmother sold the house I was allowed to select one piece of furniture from the house that I wanted. I chose "the organ" because I had spent so many years with it.  This piece of furniture has traveled across the country with me a couple of times and now lives with me in California. Over the years I have wondered if there was any way to learn the history of "the organ" and now that the internet is in my reach I would like to see if anyone could possibly help me determine the roots of this piece of furniture.

I can find no manufacturer's markings on the piece at all.  There are various scrolls on the top front and, directly in the center of the top front is what appears to be a harp.  It is a scrolled "U" with three vertical lines going through it.  Other than that one specific marking, I can see nothing else that would lead me to believe it was once an organ.  There are two glass doors on the front bottom which my grandmother always told me were built and attached when the organ was made into a bookcase.  There are three doors across the middle front, one that flips down and the other two open outward.  Each side has a very large attached handle for moving it.  It is extremely heavy.  It means a great deal to me in a sentimental sense and I hope to, one day, pass it down to my son.