Subject: RE: Carter Family
From:
Neighmond
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 08:13 PM
I have about 10,000 78's, many with the paper sleeve. It has been my experience that the sleeve usually contains the label name (Victor, Columbia, Vocalian, etc.) and often their logo and a list of popular selections and prices. As folks here have told you, it was also a popular point of sale advertisement to have a record jacket with your name and premises on it. Very seldom indeed have I seen a Jacket with the name of the Artist on it.
One of the reasons is because there were simply so many singers and performers out there, and in the beginning it was the song and not the artist that was sought after. An example is the song "Carry me back to old Virginia"- every label had it in their (coon, darkie, minstrel) ethenic selection, probably on the flip sode of "Massa' in de cold cold groun'. Another is "Whispering Hope." I have it by Staber and Hershaw (Black Label Victor), Olive Kine and Elsie Baker (Columbia), The Peerless Quartet (Black Label Victor),
Jo Stafford and Gordon McCrea (Purple Label Capitol), and countless other arrangements.
Another is because the record companies would have to have a Jacket for every record sold. 78's have two songs. That's a hell of a lot of different labels. Add the fact that old 78's break like glass, and you have a combination guranteeed to make a bean counter cringe. A retail establishment would have had somme storage space indeed of they had a jacket for each record they had on the shelf, and the problem would arise at to inventory, switched sleeves, missing sleeves and other nastiness.
FWIW, I have the mahogany shelves from the Victor talking machine dealer in town here, and the selections were stored upright (NOT stacked) Alphabetically by name of song and subject in his store (the tags are still on them) much like a public library. The compartments are wide enough for 20 1/8 inch records, and tall enough for 12" Records. there was felt in the back, and small wood cleates between each record to keep them apart. When a record sold, he put it in a sleeve with the Victor(Okeh, Columbia, Decca, Bluebird (Purple label RCA label) Capitol) name and Logo on it, from the shelf under the register.
The Cylinder records were stored in drawers, on a dowel covered with cloth, with a cardboard "tube" over them. When the cylinder was sold a lid was put on the tube, and the title and record number written on with ink.
There were often phonoographs in the store to sample records on, before you purchased them.
Your best bet is to find some sleeves from Victor Talking Machine Company, from the last half of 1927, and 1928, and you may find the Carter Family listed in the list of recent great sellers. They cut "Bury me under the weeping willow" in August of 1927 and stayed in more or less constant circulation since that time.
Taken as it's worth,
Chaz
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