Step inside the New England Accordion Connection and Museum Company and you’ll see hundreds of accordions lining nearly every surface in the historic North Canaan train station. After a sudden premonition in his late 50s, Paul Ramunni has been collecting every variety of accordion, and the stories that come with them.
Accordions were invented around 200 years ago, and became widely adapted across the world as a way for people to play harmonic music when they couldn’t afford a piano or an organ. The instruments became a source of comfort during times of war and societal duress, from the Spanish Flu in 1918, to concentration camps during the Holocaust.
“There’s a lot packed into these little boxes,” Ramunni said, who keeps a box of tissues by the door in case visitors have a strong emotional reaction to the sight or sounds of his accordions.
In this Connecticut Public Mini-Doc, see the 700 “canisters of joy” that Ramunni takes care of -- and the community he’s trying to build around them.
Listen to a radio version of this story.
