When collecting records, we can only hope that each record we acquire plays well enough so we can enjoy its contents. Collecting acoustic era recordings does not always guarantee this, as they are the oldest commercial records. While it can be beyond disappointing to come across a record we have been searching for only to find it is barely audible because of its condition, there is something to take away from this. It is extremely difficult to determine which records were the most popular before 1910, but a record in bad condition can tell us a story a mint copy cannot.
In 2018, I found an incredible box of 24 brown wax cylinders at an antique store in Oakland. This was a legendary find. It included 24 handwritten paper slips with titles, and it was in its original cardboard box. Since they were all brown wax, none of them could be identified until played. Several of them were cracked and two broke into large pieces. I bought them nonetheless. The trip back home from the place was over an hour train ride, so it was nerve-wracking.
As I started playing them and matching the slips to their records, some were in good condition, but others had an unusual problem when played. The material within was varied and well curated. Many different artists were represented, and were all dated between 1895 and 1899. If you have at all experienced brown wax cylinders, you’ll know they were made of material that was much softer than later molded cylinders, and also much more fragile. Because of this, they wore out faster than other record media. A common issue with brown wax is that they can have shallow grooves from many plays. While it is frustrating to come across this, it does indicate that they were loved. This brings up an interesting point.
Of my nearly 15 years of collecting, I have had many discussions with other scholars and collectors about what music really was popular in the acoustic era. From these conversations, and my own research, it is still very difficult to prove any one genre or record type that outsold others, and, as I have mentioned in previous columns, sheet music doesn’t necessarily prove much.
Records by Caruso were certainly popular, but how often do you come across one of his records in terrible condition? Based on my history in the field, about 95% of Caruso’s records I have handled or owned have been in very good to excellent playing condition. Buyers of classical records like his were certainly going to cherish them, but not in the same way as others. Classical records like Caruso’s were usually much more expensive than “popular” or other records, so people usually saved up for them if they were intending to buy them. Some of his 12 inch Victors sold for $1 and $1.50 in those days, that is nearly $75 in today’s money. Most working class people in those days were earning five to ten dollars a week.
A lot of people claimed that Ragtime was a menace to the younger folks in society, much like Jazz and Rock was later. People like Victor Herbert and Will Marion Cook publicly claimed to have negative views on the new type of music, but their output of published materials says otherwise. Many people spoke negatively of it to the masses, but one could argue that based on the condition patterns of ragtime records could indicate the opposite. Condition doesn’t always prove this, but I have found it odd how certain artists and types of records are so much more often in terrible condition.
(As a long-time collector, I can empathize. – Ed.)
For example, all of the Len Spencer cylinders in that box of 24 cylinders were very worn down from many plays. There were four of them in there, and three of them were ragtime numbers. Two of them were of Spencer with Vess Ossman on the banjo. If you look up brown wax recordings by Spencer online, a lot of them are in terrible condition when played. Yes, brown wax is susceptible to many issues, including mold, but the amount of them that are nearly inaudible could be slightly suspicious.
People clearly really liked Spencer. He was a versatile artist, who had an infectious energy on his recordings, especially those of ragtime songs. Also before the beginning of “race records” Spencer was one of the few artists (other than George W. Johnson, and other actual black artists) that could be marketed to black record buyers, as he recorded some of the most obscure and politically relevant pieces by black songwriters. There were many other performers whose records are usually in poor listening condition. A great example of this are many early country and hillbilly records. Clearly the content was so good that many of them didn’t have a chance surviving in their environment.
Lower income record buyers often could not provide the right conditions to keep a record perfectly playable. While they may have loved them, leaving them out in the elements would diminish their quality over time. The earliest phonographs used to play disc records in particular were notoriously heavy on the record surfaces, as many early acoustic discs will often have excessive wear at the very beginning. While the condition of records may not always indicate popularity, it is something to consider when looking at what survives. There are still so many recordings that have yet to be discovered, many will sound great, others might not, but at least those we cannot hear too well can tell us a story of love, and perhaps later neglect.
R. S. Baker has appeared at several Ragtime festivals as a pianist and lecturer. Her particular interest lies in the brown wax cylinder era of the recording industry, and in the study of the earliest studio pianists, such as Fred Hylands, Frank P. Banta, and Frederick W. Hager.
