Major gift renames Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, enables enhancements
We are pleased to announce that Timothy A. Steinert ’82BA and his wife, Lixia Zhang, have made a major gift to the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments. Mr. Steinert is the great-great-grandson of Morris Steinert, whose donation of musical instruments to Yale in 1900 established the Collection and who founded the New Haven Symphony in 1894. In addition to Timothy, descendants of Morris Steinert who have attended Yale include Alan Steinert ’23BA, John A. Steinert ’93MBA, and Alexandra Steinert-Evoy ’90MDiv. With the new gift, the Collection will honor the Steinert family’s legacy in perpetuity with a new name, the Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments.
This historic gift will enable us to reimagine and extend the scope of the Collection as a teaching museum where performance and scholarship are enhanced by in-person and digital access to the Collection’s remarkable holdings. With new curricular initiatives and through our Concerts at the Collection, the museum’s profile will be dramatically broadened. The endowment will also allow us to forge new professional collaborations, bolster conservation efforts with the help of key Yale University partners, and complete necessary improvements to the building at 15 Hillhouse Ave., the Collection’s home for years to come.
The Collection’s holdings now include more than 1,000 objects. Its keyboard collection is considered one of the finest in the world. The growth of this treasure over the decades can be attributed to the stewardship and custodial care it has received from faculty, staff, and friends who have understood the importance of preserving these instruments and access to them.
The commitment Timothy Steinert and Lixia Zhang have made to the Collection affirms the work of many—especially Morris Steinert—who have dedicated themselves to improving this priceless resource for generations to come.
