This portable organ was designed and built by Richard Watson Dirksen, owner of the Freeport Organ Co. in Freeport, Illinois in 1955. The 373 pipes were made by the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company in 1953-54 under the direction of G. Donald Harrison and Joseph Whiteford, the chief officers of the company at that time. 

It has been used for many performances in Washington National Cathedral and on many concert stages around the area as a "continuo", accompanying organ for choral/orchestral music of the Baroque period. It weighs 780 pounds with pipes in place. The action is a modified direct-electric; the tiny blower was made by Dirksen out of a ten-pound coffee tin, and a small Swiss-built motor. 

The 49-note keyboard (4 octaves) is all that is required for music appropriate to the instrument. The 7 toe-studs on the bottom control the "off" or "on" of the stops (ranks of pipes named). In spite of its small size, the 147 fiery little mixture pipes in ranks of three, just behind the front metal pipes, provide a volume and intensity of tonal excitement that will support the singing of a congregation. 
 

~ Richard Wayne Dirksen