Long-forgotten Treasures, With No Place Called Home

“Spanning centuries and continents, the instruments worth at least $25 million by their chief caretaker’s estimate are packed and stacked in an out-of-the-way storage room with water-stained ceilings. It’s hardly the environment envisioned for them when Detroit businessman Frederick Stearns gave the University of Michigan the base of the collection a century ago with instructions that the instruments be exhibited — not invisible.”