To cultivate, foster, sponsor, and develop
 appreciation of the art, history, literature
 and uses of historical harps.

To promote appreciation of and to raise the
 level of proficiency in the performance and
 use of historical harps.

To keep historical harp makers and performers,
 along with other friends of the historical harp,
 informed about literature and activities
 pertaining to historical harps, and to provide
 occasions for them to meet.

To promote the use of historical harps as professional
 instruments, and to encourage their use among amateurs.

To encourage the reconstruction of historical harps.

To collect and disseminate information regarding the
 construction of and performance upon historical harps.

Come celebrate with us.

For our 23nd  Annual Conference and Workshop
we will return to the Madison Early Music Festival,
 which will be at the University of Wisconsin,
  Madison, WI, July 7-15, 2005.

Conference July 7-8
Workshop July 8-15
Visit the workshop page (Click the link.) for more details.

22nd  Annual Conference and Workshop
Conference July 15-17
  was with the Amherst Early Music Festival,
  at Bennington College,
 Bennington, VT, July 17-23, 2005.

21st Annual Conference and Workshop
Conference July 9-11
Workshop July 11 -17, 2004
  was with the Madison Early Music Festival
The University of Wisconsin,
Madison, Wisonsin

We were present at  the

The Early Harp Symposium
June 10-15, 2005
at the Boston Conservatory,
partially concurrent with the Boston Early Music Festival

Rochester Harp Festival
May  21 - 23,  2004,
 at the Eastman School of Music
Rochester, NY

Welcome to the website of the
Historical Harp Society

The Historical Harp Society was formed in 1990 for North American friends of the harp interested in the exchange of ideas and information about early harps, their construction, and their music. The Society is devoted to encouraging research on the building of early harps, harp music of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque, and the playing techniques of those eras and their harps.

The Society distributes a lively and informative newsletter four times per year to help members exchange ideas, questions, enthusiasms, and awareness of kindred spirits. The Society also interacts with its European counterpart.

Every year the Society sponsors a Conference and Workshop devoted to the early harp. A wealth of information is contributed at this meeting.

What exactly are historical harps?

A harp is a musical instrument with multiple strings normally tuned to form a scale of some sort. To be a harp the strings must be fixed to a soundboard and exert tension upward or away from the board. All other stringed instruments press down or against the soundboard, usually by passing over a bridge. Actual "early harps" are those that were built before the later 20th century. Relatively few such early harps survive, so replicas or reconstructions of early types of harps are referred to as early harps. More information can be found here.

Why is this interesting?

The study of historical harps appeals on a number of different levels. Harps are visually interesting. There is symbolism which comes from the uses to which harps have historically been set. The music of specific times and places is better understood when rendered on the instrument for which it was composed. Playing the harp with appropriate techniques can take you into the aesthetic of those times and places. All of this is a search for understanding.

Join us

Membership in the Historical Harp Society is $25 per year. You may join by sending this amount in US funds to Jean Humphrey, 631 N. 3rd Avenue, St. Charles IL 60174. Be sure to include information about any harps that you own and whether you are a teacher, student, performer, researcher, or simply want to know more about early harps.

Bookmark this page

In the future, information will be posted here about upcoming events. There are plans to publish online much of the material that has been accumulated in connection with our annual Conferences.