Saturday, August 12, 2017

Digitized 78s at the Internet Archive

Ladies and Gents, Dear Readers, I present to you, direct from 1924, The Walla Walla Fox Trot:


This goofy gem is actually from a popular Broadway musical of that year, Flossie. It is one of 25,000 records digitized by a Philadelphia company, George Blood Audio LP. The the George Blood collection is now a part of The Great 78 Project, which describes itself like so:

The Great 78 Project is a community project for the preservationresearch and discovery of 78rpm records. From about 1898 to the 1950s, an estimated 3 million sides (~3 minute recordings) have been made on 78rpm discs. While the commercially viable recordings will have been restored or remastered onto LP’s or CD, there is still research value in the artifacts and usage evidence in the often rare 78rpm discs and recordings.

Here is the landing page of the George Blood collection, where I found this little gem. Like the wax cylinder recording archives I have blogged about before (Wax Cylinder Recordings Online and Exploring turn-of-the-century social history via wax cylinders), this is another great resource for exploring the past--and also for free music to use in podcasts and the like.

Explore! You might fine something like "Pussy Pussy Pussy" from the Light Crust Doughboys:

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