NAMM History: Founding Fathers

Chandler W. Smith, 1901
Chandler W. Smith, a Boston piano dealer, was the first president of the National Association of Piano Dealers of America.

What did a piano cost in 1901? That might depend on the customer, because some dealers charged what the traffic would bear. Fraudulent advertising was rampant.

To correct these evils, the 10-year-old American Piano Manufacturers Association invited reputable dealers to its 1901 convention in New York. From that meeting grew the National Association of Piano Dealers of America (NAPDA), forerunner of today’s National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).

NAPDA committee members met many times during the first year to tackle trade problems and organize the association’s first convention. Traveling as far as 2,500 miles by railroad to attend meetings, they were successful at improving conditions nationwide.