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What's new in these pages?

This page reports on the evolution of this Website as it occurs, both for the sake of those who like to follow such things and to help the Webmaster remember what was done and when.  The changes are reported in reverse order, with the latest at the top.  Dates show when groups of pages were installed on the Web server, which is not always the same as the internal dates of revision of individual pages.

This report covers not only the root directory but all subdirectories.

NOTE:  If you have a tool or method for monitoring changed Webpages, this is the only page that you need to monitor on this Website, because it will always point to all other recently changed pages where the cause of the change was something other than correction of a typographic error or addition of an external Weblink.


2023/09/25 - Revised 38 site data pages (including recategorization of Tuxtla GutiƩrrez, MX) and added 1 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Added a variety of external links to various site data pages that were not updated in the database, and therefore are not enumerated here.

2023/09/19 - Revised 49 site data pages and added 9 (see list or map); deleted one (Music School, Vleuten NL); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

2023/08/21 - Revised 54 site data pages and added 45 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.
All pages for traditional carillons in Germany have been revised to link to the appropriate page on the current DGV Website, whether or not they were otherwise updated in the database.

Added a new page listing degraded European tower bell instruments.

Clarified the conventions used for telephone number area codes, in the page about standard format for site data pages, and made various other minor improvements to wording there.

2023/07/31 - Revised 45 site data pages and added 20 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Updated links on some site data pages (not enumerated, though telephone numbers have been reformatted in the database).

Revised the worldwide summary of instruments by country and type.

2023/06/22 - Corrected character encoding in 34 assorted pages (not itemized); modernized locator map links where needed.

2023/06/10 - Updated the Website map to reflect changes in the past four years.
Revised the Data Top page to provide a more visible link to the recently added page about Wanamaker bells, which itself was revised slightly.

2023/05/30 - Revised 21 site data pages and added 1 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

2023/05/16 - Fixed several broken links, and improved a few locator maps for great bells not in carillons.

Removed to archive all update lists for 2010.

2023/05/11-13 - Changed to UTF-8 the page encoding of all root pages and essays, as well as some text pages in the data section, to make it easier to verify that the public Website matches private mirrors (which are on Macintosh machines).

Fixed several broken links.

Revised the "Direction" note block which follows (and floats in this page):

"To travel far, you must choose a direction"
William F. Woo, "Letters from the Editor" (chapter title)

The direction in which the TowerBells Website is traveling can be seen in the worklist which is set out below.  In roughly prioritized order, this shows the major tasks which the author has set himself, and which are intended to result in future news items on this page.

  • Solve the problem of why Map Service Select does not always pass through a map request when it should automatically do so.
  • Post to the site data pages all additions and changes reported by correspondents, found in publications, or discovered from Google Alert messages, revising indexes, locator map links and regional locator maps as needed.
  • Improve the new Error 404 handler to redirect requests for deleted site data pages automatically.  (It already tells human visitors why they are no longer present.)
  • Construct a page that describes and illustrates the various types of keyboards, chimestands and chiming racks that are in use in various parts of the world.
  • Finish mapping independent great bells already listed in Europe, Russia and Asia-Pacific (Oriental profile).
  • Enhance page-generator code to display full technical information for prior phases of an instrument; then regenerate site data pages for all multi-phase instruments.
  • Investigate anomalies in various summaries, as well as discrepancies between instrument counts in summaries and the corresponding indexes.
  • Enhance the statistics and/or filter panes on regional maps with respect to type of instrument, type of institution, denomination.
  • Extend the Google site locator map functions to show (additional) nearby sites at the user's request.
  • Move existing photos in site data pages from Links block to Photos block.
  • Search my photo archives for relevant material which can be posted to site data pages, including photos contributed from others which should have been posted already.
  • Regenerate all site data pages older than July 2012 for which information exists about auxiliary mechanisms and/or tower details.
  • Add numerous entries to the lists of great bells for continental European countries.
  • Write an essay on HTML maintainability, for the guidance of those who don't appreciate the necessity of it and the subtleties involved.
  • Find and fix obsolete links to the Global Gazetteer.
  • Supply all of the "planned" items listed on the Data_Top page.
  • Review the index to the work of miscellaneous bellfoundries to determine whether additional bellfoundry-specific indexes should be constructed.
  • Regenerate all Summaries that are more than a year old.
  • Actively hunt for information to resolve various "unknown" details (foundry, year, weight, number, keyboard ranges, etc.), including location and status of Deagan tower chimes that are not yet mapped.
The words "roughly prioritized" indicate that work on many of these tasks may be going on simultaneously, so that particular sub-tasks may be completed in a different sequence.  There will also be changes from time to time that have no apparent connection to any of these major tasks.  Furthermore, there will be no explicit description of revisions to this task list, nor any record of prior revisions to it, though it will usually move up on this page whenever such a revision occurs.

/signed/   Carl Scott Zimmerman, database owner

2023/04/29 - Added a new Error 404 handler to cope with all known "deleted" site data pages.

2023/04/23 - Revised 26 site data pages, renamed one and added one (see list or map); removed the site data page for the Deagan tubular chime reported to be in Shalom Baptist Church in Philadelphia PA, upon discovering that this congregation is a successor in the building that once held the Reformed Episcopal Memorial Church of Our Redeemer; replaced the site data page for the Deagan tubular chime of the former Linwood Presbyterian Church in Kansas City MO with a paragraph in the page about sites that are no more; revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Expanded the entry for the Todd-Donigan Iron Company (Louisville, KY) in the research notes for the Goeppinger book based on a report of another bell bearing that firm's name.

Added a new article about Wanamaker bells.

Supplied missing links to Italy pages in the worldwide list of Summaries.

Corrected the "What's New" links on the Data Top pages (with and without frames).

2023/03/18 - Revised 25 site data pages and added 4 (see list or map); removed the site data page for the McShane chime in Shenandoah PA, replacing it with a paragraph in the page about sites that are no more; revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Revised the Tower Bells introductory page to explain more clearly what we do or do not list with respect to peals and clock-chimes, and to clarify the paragraph about bell wieights.

Updated Apple Maps authorization token.

2023/02/17 - Revised 24 site data pages (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Slightly revised the article on Taylor's Doubled Trebles, including correcting the number of duplicated bells at Springfield, Massachusetts.

Revised the essay on philanthropy.

2023/01/21 - Revised 35 site data pages and added 3 (see list or map); replaced the site data page for the Deagan tubular chime chime at Brookings, SD, with an entry in the list of tubular sites that are no more; revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Revised the story of the builder.

Fixed several broken internal links.

2023/01/03 - Expanded the Goeppinger book research notes regarding New York City bellfounders C. Brinckerhoff (scroll down),   Force (both Cornelius and Ephraim),   and Sayre & Force;  added a sentence to the end of the paragraph about Tips for use.

Expanded the description of the lost chime of jeweler E.P.Percival of Philadelphia.

Added a new list of carillon keyboard indexes to make it easier to compare the keyboard ranges of traditional carillons in different regions of the world.

2022/11/25 - Revised 18 site data pages and added 5 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Revised the article about Naylor Vickers in North America to reflect the current number of known bells produced.

2022/10/28 - Revised 26 site data pages and added 2 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Added details for the great bell of Budapest.

2022/10/19 - Revised 176 site data pages to remove links to the now-defunct Emporis Website, which provided data and photographs of significant buildings; but left our Emporis Hints page intact to show what has been lost.  Also updated any old-style locator map links that were found in these pages.  Since there were no changes to the underlying database, there is neither list nor map to reference these changed pages.

2022/10/06 - Expanded the Goeppinger book research notes regarding Good & Moores, especially its principal partner Adam Good, as well as the Lafayette Foundry, correcting a misattribution.

Added photos to the site data pages for Loreto Cloister, Prague, Czech Republic; Glockenspielpavilion, Dresden, Germany; Frauenkirche, Meissen, Germany; Museum Klok & Peel, Asten, Netherlands; and the Minster, York, England.  The database was unaffected.

2022/09/29 - Revised 35 site data pages and added 3 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.  Some pages include photos from the Webmaster's recent trip to Europe.

Expanded the C.T.Robinson entry in the Goeppinger book research notes.

Added photos for The Burleson Bells, Austin, TX, USA.

2022/09/13 - Corrected the attribution of the Gloucester MA carillon on the Milestones page.

2022/08/09 - Revised 47 site data pages and added 23 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Added information about Lusk & Co. to the Research Notes on Large Bells of America.

Added information about the larger great bell of Kiev, Ukraine.

Updated the summary of practice keyboards for North American traditional carillons.

Revised the history of the Vanbergen bellfoundries

Revised the description of a (former) great bell of Ukraine, and removed it from regional maps.

NOTE: Prior to 2022, the common convention for recording telephone numbers in the USA was to use the format "(nnn)nnn-nnnn", indicating that the first three digits (the so-called "area code") were not used when calling from a wired telephone within the geographical area of that code.  In early 2022, a nationwide change made use of the area code mandatory in all circumstances.  Therefore, in subsequent updates to this Website, all telephone and fax numbers in the USA will be reformatted as "nnn-nnn-nnnn".  (However, updates will not be done solely for reformatting purposes.)

2022/07/13 - Revised 26 site data pages and added 3 (see list or map); revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Added a new summary for North American traditional carillons, showing what is known about the presence or absence of practice consoles.

Add an entry for 1951 to the list of former carillons in North American expositions.

Revised the Glossary to improve the definitions of "console" and "keyboard," including the addition of "practice console."

Revised the report generator program so that site data pages produced in the future for traditional carillons will clearly indicate that the practice console status is unknown when that is true.

Improved the statistics display for regional locator maps.

Added two new entries to the page on books about bells.

Split 2021 news into the separate history file referenced below, to save space here.

2022/06/14 - Revised 31 site data pages and added 10 (see list or map), including rectification of some Dutch city names (IJ vs Y); removed site data page for the chime of St.Rita of Cascia Shrine Church, Bronx, NY, upon discovering that its bells were used as the foundation of the chime of Milton, MA; removed site data page for the chime listed in West Chester OH upon finding that it is actually a set of aluminum shells; revised affected indexes and regional maps accordingly.

Expanded the definition of "hybrid carillon" to include instruments with piano-style keyboard but mechanical action.

Provided missing foundry link for the great bell of Deerfield, IL.

2022/05/20 - Revised 8 site data pages and added 117, all in Italy (see list or map); moved all previously existing index entries for sites in Italy out of the general European indexes into a new set of indexes for Italy, similar to those for other European single-country indexes.  Included are new indexes for four Italian bellfoundries-- CapanniCavadiniColbachini and De Poli, as well as summaries for Italy and an updated PDF for Italy.  This completes (finally!) the construction of site data pages for all sites that were in the underlying database when this project began 25 years ago.  Nevertheless, much work remains to be done--see the "Direction" note block.

Revised the summary of instruments worldwide, reflecting the addition of more than 500 sites since it was last revised.

Revised the page about the standard format of site data pages to explain the situation (common in Italian rings and chimes) where the initial (or only) phase of an instrument is composed of bells by multiple founders and of a variety of ages.

Revised the Bellfoundries advice page to explain why and how "Complete" may be not an accurate reflection of the origin of the bells of an instrument.

Revised the definitions of instrument type abbreviations used in indexes, primarily to distinguish the various Italian styles of full-circle ringing and to explain compound types.

Revised the list of bellfoundries to include several minor foundries that contributed to recently added sites.

Revised the Website map for accuracy.

Revised the Website history, incorporating a graph that shows the number of sites in the database for every year since 1975.

2022/03/14 - Revised 46 site data pages and added 4 (see list or map), including:
- Changed filename for Arlon BE, since its location in that city is now known.

Removed update map links from the 2018 news file, as being no longer needed.

2022/02/10 - Revised 92 site data pages and added 2 (see list or map), including:
- Replaced page for Peoria AZ with page for Las Vegas - MR, NV.
- Merged page for Kobenhavn - M, Denmark with duplicated page for Valby, replacing the latter with cross-references in the appropriate indexes.

Revised the help text for site locator maps to reflect Google's change in tilt view controls.

Split 2020 news into the separate history file referenced below, to save space here.

2022/02/06 - Add Footnote 5 to the essay on Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.

2022/01/30 - Updated the authorization key for Apple Maps.

2022/01/26 - Revised 185 site data pages and added 31 (see list or map), including merging the previous separate entry for the defunct original Taylor foundry carillon into the site data page for the present instrument, as well as replacing the page for a mystery zvon in Howell MI with a page for a confirmed zvon in Howell NJ.

Added an entry for a newly-discovered lost McShane chime.

Added to the Research Notes on Large Bells of America various items related to Baltimore bell and brass works (added to p.61), Clampitt & Regester (p.78), and five other Regester entries (p.142).

Replaced the site data page for the McShane+Paccard chime at Conshohocken, PA, with an entry in the list of sites that are no more.

Revised the entry for the lost tubular chime of the Chicago Auditorium organ.

Revised the Hillsboro foundry page to describe more accurately how bells from that foundry may be identified.

Revised the history of the Bergholtz foundry (now closed).

Added to the history of the McShane foundry (now closed).

Made a minor change to the maintenance page.



Prior years' news has been moved into the following separate files to save space here:

2021 - See What was new in these pages during 2021?
2020 - See What was new in these pages during 2020?
2019 - See What was new in these pages during 2019?
2018 - See What was new in these pages during 2018?
2017 - See What was new in these pages during 2017?
2016 - See What was new in these pages during 2016?
2015 - See What was new in these pages during 2015?
2014 - See What was new in these pages during 2014?
2013 - See What was new in these pages during 2013?
2012 - See What was new in these pages during 2012 - the year of the merger?
A Website history explains the merger.
2000-2011 - See What was new in the TowerBells pages before the merger?.
1996-2012 - See What was new in the GCNA data pages before the merger?


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This page was created 2000/03/02 and last revised on the topmost date above.

Please send comments or questions about this page to csz_stl@swbell.net.