The Malta Historical Society announced the winners of the MHS History Awards 2022 at a well-attended evening held on Thursday 17 November 2022 at the Refectory, Casa Manresa, Floriana. The Awards took place with generous support of the Alfred Mizzi Foundation.
Dr Anna Borg Cardona was awarded Honorary Mention for the article 'A nineteenth-century Maltese bagpipe in the Metropolitan Museum Collection' published in the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, 2020.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York houses a large number of musical instruments, among which a bagpipe (iż-Żaqq) from Malta. This entered the Museum collection through the efforts of the collector Mary Elizabeth Crosby Brown (1842-1918).
Anna Borg Cardona's article traces the correspondence of Mary Elizabeth with her contact in Malta between 1887-1900. It looks at the way the bagpipe was sent to Mary Elizabeth, how it has been catalogued over the years, and its characteristics as compared to 20th century instruments. This Żaqq is an important rare survivor from the 19th century.