The 78 Records Project Series

78 Records Production

The 78 Records Project Series Introduction

This series attempts to create information for records that would’ve been around for any adult living during World War Two. The age range will the years 1900-to 1945.

About the 78 Record Project Series:

Collecting 78 Records is a recent hobby of mine. I enjoy going into antique stores and finding 78 Records and playing them on my record player. There is just something enjoyable about listening to the snaps, crackles, and pops on vintage record players that digital cannot capture. I think for me it is the connection to the past. That shared experience of selecting a record, setting it, adjusting the needle, and playing it that digital music lacks. Digitized music can come across as impersonal (after all it is nothing but 1s and 0s) whereas music in a physical format is deeply personal.

Project Purpose and Organization:
The purpose of this article is to provide historical reenactors with some basic information regarding period-correct records. The idea is to give a reenactor who may not know enough about records some “rules of the record” to visually identify a period-correct record.

This project series will be organized around record labels. It will focus more on the common record companies prior to and during World War II. Clearly, any record from any company (including some of the smaller record companies/labels and the companies/labels that were defunct by WW2) could have been played in a player. Budget labels and older-named labels will be included where relevant.

The labels of this project will include only the following 78 Record Labels:

   V-DISC  OKEHDECCA and   CORAL    BLUEBIRDCOLUMBIA RECORDS
  CLARION  HARMONYVELVET TONE   CAPITOLStore Brands:
MONTGOMERY WARD and SEARS Brands
  EMERSON MELOTONE      ORIOLE PARAMOUNT/BLACK SWAN/BROADWAY    PATHE/ACTUELLE
  STARR  PERFECT    HARVARD/OXFORD /SILVERTONE /SUPERTONE   CHALLENGE CONQUEROR
  AEOLIAN-VOCALION BRUNSWICK  GENNETTAladdin (founded Aug 1945 as Philo records)     CHAMPION
ExclusiveKingLondon (post-war)Bibletone Dot (Post-war)
         VICTOR/TIMELY TUNES/ELECTRADISK     BUDDYPOST WORLD WAR TWO: MERCURYPOST WORLD WAR TWO: MGMEARLY ROCK AND ROLL 78s: CHESS, SUN, VEEJAY RECORDS
Grey Gull / Radiex / Supreme / Van Dyke Keynote Records

The article will not cover musicians or bands unless mentioned specifically. This article will not cover Edison discs or cylinders, as Edison records require a specific Edison player rather than a generic record player. This article does not cover Canadian, British, or other European 78 record labels and companies unless relevant. The dates for the record label and the catalog numbering of the records are not designed to be completely accurate but provide a general time frame.

Finally, I will cover some Post-World War II records as they have a tendency to be grouped together with Pre-World War II records. This is an important consideration as the discerning historical reenactor may seek to exclude those that are beyond the dates of World War II (1939-1945).

For a brief historical narrative of the US record industry between 1925-1950 as well as a survey of retail pricing see: THE U.S. RECORD INDUSTRY AND THE RETAIL PRICE OF POPULAR RECORDS, 1925-50 by Steven Lasker who helps run the Vintage Jazz Mart website.

Below is a link that describes how the records were made along with notes for anyone interested in collecting 78s.

78 PRODUCTION “HOW IT WAS MADE”COLLECTORS NOTES