[78-L] Talking Machine World and / or Review

[Geoffrey Wheeler]

There was a magazine called Talking Machine World (TMW). Now I read 
somewhere about a magazine called Talking Machine Review. Was this a 
misprint for TMW?
Has such a magazine been digitized for easy access by researchers?


Talking Machine World is a very difficult publication to source. Even 
information about its years of publication is often incorrect. I 
believe the reason for the scarcity of its issues today is that it was 
a trade magazine, and therefore regarded by people in the trade as 
disposable once the next issue arrived. Although other trade magazines 
were published contemporaneously with TMW, TMW stands as THE 
inexhaustible source for information about sound recordings and the 
recording industry during the years of its publication. Check the 
internet for “talking machine world” and you will find various websites 
that may prove helpful.

Talking Machine World from January 15, 1905 to December 15, 1928 and 
Talking Machine World & Radio Music Merchant from January 15, 1929 to 
December 15, 1930 are available on microfilm through the Center for 
Research Libraries (CRL), a consortium of North American universities, 
colleges, and independent research libraries. Not available are the 
last two years of publication, January 15, 1931 through December 15, 
1932. The consortium acquires and preserves traditional and digital 
resources for research and teaching and makes them available to member 
institutions through interlibrary loan and electronic delivery. Based 
at the University of Chicago, CRL has a web site at: 
wwwcrl.uchicago.edu. By working through a CRL member university 
library, you may then be able to access CRL materials. Web site 
click-ons include: Collection Search Links, CRL Member Institutions, 
Search Collection Databases, How to Use CRL Collections, and more.  I 
have seen copies of TMW&RMM from the period January 15, 1931 through 
December 15, 1932 in bound volumes in a private collection.