[78-L] Collecting hobbies and their prices...

[Michael Biel]

From: Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com>
> The first issue of Record Changer was July 15, 1942. It was preceded
> by Jazz Information, the first U.S. jazz collectors' magazine,
> published by Gene Williams, which ran sporadically from 1939
> through November 1941. And contrary to your statement that
> Record Changer was aimed at "Pop 78 Collectors," the magazine
> was aimed specifically at - at least while Gordon Gullickson
> was running it - Mouldy Figge jazz fans (i.e. traditional New Orleans jazz).
 
And don't forget that there were several jazz discographies that had
already been published in the 30s, including Delauney's Hot Discography
which was reprinted in the U.S. in 1938 by Commodore Record Shop, Milt
Gabler's thriving jazz collector shop. And around 1940 there was
published a jazz record price guide and a jazz record collector's
directory, both of I recently acquired.  The jazz collectors had already
noted what were the rare records before the WW II shellac drives--a very
significant fact.  And remember, many of the records in that guide had
been new in the stores no more than 20 years earlier and in order to
satisfy the market were already being reissued by pirates, clubs, and
stores like Commodore, and then by the companies themselves.  My copy of
Hot Discography was from a jazz club in a Yale or Harvard dorm and has
some fascinating underlinings showing their interests, and has some
penciled-in additions, such as Zulu's Ball!    
 
> Speaking of specialized collections, I have an almost complete
> run of Record Changers, which ran from 1942 to 1957.  Cary Ginell

All acquired by your personal subscription, of course!
 
So Record Research began before the demise of Record Changer?? 
 
Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com
 


 > From: stevenc at interlinks.net

 > Record Changer first appeared in 1941, allowing pop-78 collectors to
 > sell records to one another...it in turn begat Record Research
 > (c.1956)...and later the unrelated New Amberrola Graphic
 > (AFAIK, now discontinued?). These periodicals performed
 > to a great extent (but less "organized") the same function now
 > performed by 78-L...?!