The musical instrument collection includes a small but important group of early 19th-century musical instruments and related decorative arts. The collection’s largest and most significant piece is a unique square pianoforte with mahogany and satinwood frame made in 1804 by the English firm John Broadwood & Son. The collection also contains a fine English flute made by George Astor and played by Tudor Place founder Thomas Peter, a ca. 1895 C.F. Martin parlor guitar, and banjos from the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the Archive, early examples of printed music include sheet music played by a young Martha Parke Custis at Mount Vernon and a bound volume of sheet music owned by Martha and Thomas Peter’s daughter, America Pinckney Peter, during her schooling in Philadelphia.