Let’s Act Accordingly: June Is National Accordion Month!

June 19, 2025

Depending on the genre of music you enjoy, you may or may not be familiar with the wheezing sound of the accordion. Whether the button variety, played by Bob Annis above, or the piano accordion, played by his friend, accordions have been used throughout time. Invented in the 1820s, the accordion is most known to me as used in polka music, musica norteña, a type of regional Mexican music, and by “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Children’s accordion band at the Indiana State Fair, Indianapolis, 1939; Group of children playing accordions together, Indianapolis, 1950. IHS, P0569.

The popularity of the instrument is not what it once was. It is clear from the above images of children’s accordion concerts in 1939 and 1950, that the middle years of the 20^th century were a particular boon for the instrument. I would be surprised to find as large a class or group of child accordion players together in Indianapolis or anywhere in Indiana today.

Music Store in Washington, Daviess County, ca.1885; Sterchi Music, Terre Haute, 1940. IHS, P0194 (altered); Martin Collection, IHS (altered).

We are lucky to have some images from specialty music stores in the collection which feature accordions as one of the many instruments they carry. The image taken in the mid-1880s or 1890s is the L.A. Crim Music Room, an extension of the L.A. Crim Drug Store in Washington, Daviess County.  Sterchi Music in Terre Haute was founded in 1898 and maintained its importance in the music scene under this name into the 1960s when the then owners, Charles Seward and Olive H. Wilson, moved and rebranded the store Seward’s House of Music.

Knights of Pythias performers, 1940; Performers at the Press Club, 1944; Political performers, 1946; Red Cross Sing-a-long accompanied by an accordion, 1954; Donna Wagoner, violinist, and Joan Wilson on accordion, portrait, 1957. All images Indianapolis. IHS, P0569 (cropped), Red Cross image, IHS, M1225 (cropped).

Based on the children’s concert images as well as those shown here, I would hazard a guess that accordion players were more often female. This could be a completely skewed point of view simply perpetuated by the fact that most of the accordion players shown in our collection are girls and women. However, if that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right. I really enjoy that women are leading the way with these impressive instruments.

Go out and listen to some great accordion music today to celebrate the month. As always, I encourage you to check out additional content on our IHS blogsite.

Amy Vedra is the director of reference services. She is currently reading her way through the Great American Reads list.

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