Orrin L. Fox

Biography

Orrin L. Fox established 'The Indicator' at Chicago in 1880, originally devoted to the liberal arts and art industries generally. He changed it into an organ for musical industries exclusively, making it the first publication in the field to conduct effective propaganda for the piano industry of the West. From Spillane (1890): Orrin L. Fox published and edited The Indicator, a weekly journal that Spillane calls 'a standard weekly well known to most readers as an organ of the music trades' and the pioneer publication of its city (a Chicago-based paper, per the text's reference to his wife's Chicago musical connections). The Indicator first appeared in a modest form in 1880 but proved successful enough to be enlarged to its present size shortly afterward. Spillane credits the paper with maintaining an able trade department and reflecting 'Western musical life and movement in a peculiarly able manner,' despite being published some distance from the era's principal center of piano manufacturing. Fox himself is characterized as 'an experienced and clever writer.' His connection to musical journalism and the piano trade is further noted through his wife, Mrs. O. L. Fox, an eminent figure in the Chicago musical world and a faculty member of the Chicago College of Music. No further biographical detail about Fox is given in this text.

Highlights

• Established 'The Indicator' at Chicago in 1880
• Turned it into the first journal to make effective propaganda for the piano industry of the West
• Published and edited The Indicator, described as the pioneer music-trade weekly of its city
• The Indicator began modestly in 1880 and was successful enough to be enlarged to a larger format soon after
• Praised by Spillane as 'an experienced and clever writer'

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 417.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 361.

Public domain.