It is the only institution of its kind in North America and holds the largest collection of Beethoven works and memorabilia outside Europe.

[1] San Jose State University and the American Beethoven Society share the duties of running the center.

San Jose State runs the center as a special collection of its library, providing space and staff.

[3] The center has expanded its holdings over the years through donations and acquisitions, notably the 1987 purchase of the collection of Beethoven scholar William S. Newman, musicologist and emeritus professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

After that, the ownership of the lock is uncertain, until it resurfaced in 1943 as payment to a Danish doctor named Kay Alexander Fremming for medical treatment given to Jews escaping Nazism.

[6] In 1994, the Fremming estate auctioned the lock at Sotheby's in London for £3,600 ($7,300 including commission) to four members of the American Beethoven Society: Dr. Alfredo Guevara, Ira Brilliant, Dr. Thomas Wendel, and Caroline Crummey.

The lock was named in honor of Dr. Guevara, the principal investor, who kept a small portion of the hair and donated the rest to the Center for Beethoven Studies.