Researchers have realised the records are a ‘goldmine’ to study changes in environmental conditions
Yangang Xing had never heard of organ-tuning books, but his colleague Andrew Knight often played the pipe organ at churches as a teenager.
When the pair, who are researchers at Nottingham Trent University, set out to study how environmental conditions in churches had changed over time, Knight explained that all over the country many organs had notebooks full of data tucked away in their recesses.
“I would sit at the organ between hymns, or between weddings,” said Knight. “Quite often, the only thing to look at between services was this little red book that sat in the corner.”
Xing realised organ-tuning books were troves of data that might span decades. “We said, ‘Oh, this is a goldmine,’” he recalled.
