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The Bob Moog Foundation Archives seeks to preserve and share its historically rich and extensive collection of materials related to the legacy of Bob Moog. Representing 50 years of pioneering efforts, the Bob Moog Foundation Archives offers a fascinating glimpse into Bob Moog’s legacy and those with whom he collaborated with or who inspired his work..

The Bob Moog Foundation Archives comprises:

  • Vintage instruments
  • Breadboard prototypes
  • Over 5,000 photos
  • Articles and periodicals
  • Project notes
  • Over 2500 schematics
  • Correspondence and writings
  • Memorabilia
  • Recordings
  • And more…

Preserving and sharing the legacy of Bob Moog

We have dedicated thousands of hours to stewarding this one-of-a-kind collection of historic materials, including:

  • Cataloging, cleaning, and archiving over 2500 vintage schematics, some hand-drawn by Bob himself
  • Maintaining a comprehensive database of nearly 10,000 items 
  • Conducting full restorations of vintage hardware, at a cost of thousands of dollars per instrument
  • Preserving 88 rare reel-to-reel tapes from the late ’60s and ’70s. Read more about this effort on our blog and hear excerpts from the restored tapes.
  • Exhibiting archival materials at the Moogseum; regionally and nationally at festivals like Moogfest and Progstock; and at museums in exhibits like Switched-On: The Birth of the Moog Synthesizer at The History Center of Tompkins County and Waves of Inspiration: The Legacy of Moog at the Museum of Making Music and the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.
  • Exhibiting archival materials online on our website and on Google Arts & Culture’s online exhibition, Music, Makers and Machines, exposing them to hundreds of thousands of people of all ages.
  • Sharing archival material with journalists, researchers and authors. Most recently, the Bob Moog Foundation Archives was a critical source of information for Bob Moog’s biography, Switched-On: The Birth of the Moog Synthesizer, written by Albert Glinsky.

The Bob Moog Foundation Archives seeks to create traveling exhibits for museums and science centers, collaborate with other institutions to display small archive collections, and expand collections on view at the Moogseum in Asheville, North Carolina. 

We are committed to preserving and sharing the information in the Bob Moog Foundation Archives for generations to come. 

Recent additions

Thus far in 2023, the Bob Moog Foundation Archives has received 720 items through donations, including 11 collections and four pieces of hardware.

This includes a rare R.A. Moog Minimoog, one of the first 100 Minimoogs manufactured, and an R.A. Moog Melodia Theremin, a kit theremin introduced in 1961.

Other items acquired in 2023 include:

  • Historic letters and photographs
  • Business memos from Moog Music (Buffalo) 
  • Vintage instructional and service manuals
  • Vintage interface templates 
  • R.A. Moog Troubador Theremin
  • “Outside the Lines” article by Allison Frank. Donated to us by Allison Frank, along with a tape recording of the interview with Bob Moog.
  • MuSonics Minimoog

From the Bob Moog Foundation Archives: Original Schematics

Bob’s creativity, his spirit, his vision, and his meticulous nature are reflected in the schematics he created and those created from his work. They are a documentation of the history and progression of his innovation in an artistic and beautiful format.

Engineering schematic on paper

This mechanical drawing shows the 1973 Moog 1130 Percussion Controller, including the assembly of the final unit, and gives hints about its operation. The 1130 converts the physical impact of the drum head being hit into a voltage output that can be used to control any voltage-controlled aspect of a Moog modular, or any device that responds to changes in voltage. The prototype of this device can be found in the Bob Moog Foundation Archives.

Donate to help us preserve and share these archives.