[78-L] Youth collectors

Mon May 3 11:12:13 PDT 2010

 I began collecting 78's in 1st grade.When I was in fourth grade I really
wanted a Victrola, so I wrote in to the local paper, and they ended up
writing a short article about me. The result was that I did get a few people
calling the house who had Victrolas, but no collectors responded. Then I
found out that my 4th grade teacher had a big phonograph collection. He
couldn't have been less interested in helping me, however. I remember his
bringing a cylinder phonograph into show the class and my going up to him
afterwards and telling him how much I loved the Edison Concert Band (ok--I
was a weird kid). He wasn't impressed.  In fact, he seemed irritated.Years
later as a teen I became a member of the local record collecting group and
attended a meeting at his house, which was stuffed with phonographs and
records. I quizzed him about his record collection and it turned out that
he thought I was out of my mind because I was so interested in Billy Murray.
He was a 4th grade teacher with absolutely no interest in passing on any
knowledge to a younger collector.
In my early 20's I moved to California and met a number of collectors with
great collections of records.Most were REALLY nice people.. Some of them,
however, were completely disinterested in helping a younger collector with
information. In fact, it seemed like there was  an "old boy network" which
featured a lot of crotchety, jaded guys being dismissive of me because I was
so young. I had no war stories about junking store stock Paramounts--and I
had few good trade items,so what good was I?  The dynamic was hard to
take.Older collectors have to watch it--they can be extremely offputting to
younger people. They also are not  always neccesarily the most informed
about record history. Just because somebody is older doesn't mean that  they
used to hang out with Frank Crumit.. sometimes it means little more than the
fact that they were able to buy great records for a penny a piece at the
local Salvatiion Army.---Most collectors I have met have been great--but
some have come off more like the Major Braggart who Edward M Favor sings
about in "Would You Mind Passing the Salt?"
The collectors who were helpful to me early on really helped shape my
collecting interestes as an adult. I can't say enough nice things about
them.They helped keep my interest level high and I owe them a lot. Those
awesome collectors who come to mind include John A Petty, Bill Bryant,
Milford Fargo , George Blacker and Jim Walsh, .(all deceased now) I won't
bother naming the jerks whom I encountered!
I'm 42 now and still working on my collection. I would encourage all older
collectors on this list to be accepting of younger folk just getting into
records. I have met some people in their 20's with a keen awareness of
records, however I have also seen younger people loose interest and abandon
records, in part because it is sometimes very hard to find sympathetic
people to talk shop with.Older record guys: If you know a younger collector
be nice to them! Take the time to pass on the fascinating tidbits of minutia
that you encounter .Explain matrix and take numbers. Play them records.
It's getting less likely every year that a younger collector will go into a
junk shop and find a stack of Zonophones for sale for 50 cents each, and
Ebay prices teenagers out of the running to aquire the rarer things for sale
out there. Younger collectors are less likely to be able to examine brown
wax cylinders or Herwin 78's up close. Somebody has to expose them to that
stuff.
What's the point in all this? I'm not sure--just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 9:36 AM, Gene Baron <gene.baron at gmail.com> wrote:

> There are several threads on this interesting topic so I wasn't sure which
> one to reply to but I chose this one.  I think we need also to distinguish
> between colelcting the discs and interest in the music itself.  My son is
> 22
> years old and is about to graduate from Earlham College in Richmond
> Indiana.  Not too many people know much about Richmond IN other than us old
> music enthusiasts (for Gennett, or course) and Quakers (for the college and
> related Quaker organizations located in the same town).  Falling into both
> of these groups, I am no stranger to the area.  But I digress -- my son has
> a strong interest in music going way back, and has even featured English
> Music Hall and old Hillbilly music on a radio show has has hosted from the
> college for a year or so.  He enjoys seeing the oddities I pull out from
> the
> basement, and I am sure he'd be pleased to get my 78rpm records at some
> point, but I doubt he'd listen to them much.  He is very much of this era
> in
> that even the oldest of the music he plays is from CD reissues or gotten on
> line.  So in his case anyway I think the interest in the musical content
> outweighs the interest in the physical record itself.  Thanks.
>
> Gene
> gene.baron at gmail.com
>
> On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 12:15 PM, David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca
> >wrote:
>
> >
> > Vinyl seems to be "hip", but Barnes & NoBull tried it for about five
> > minutes. Possibly the fact that they were carrying stuff like "Sweet Baby
> > James" for $18 when you can find an original copy in any Goodwill for a
> buck
> > didn't help.
> >
> > dl
> >
> > > Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 16:09:47 +0000
> > > From: fnarf at comcast.net
> > > To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> > > Subject: Re: [78-L] Youth collectors
>  >  >
> > > > So everybody on the list is right - the young people of today
> > > > don't know what a 78 is and they are also very interested when
> > > > they hear one.
> > >
> > > I don't think 78s will be coming back anytime soon, but vinyl LPs sure
> > are. Sales have been increasing by 30% a year for a couple of years now,
> > with the biggest interest among young people, even teens. At some hipster
> > stores, records sell as much as, or more than, CDs, and most new releases
> > today are available on LP, with a coupon for a free MP3 download. It's
> CDs
> > that are in most danger of dying out; the only reason anyone wants them
> is
> > to rip to MP3 as quickly as possible and get rid of (records are a pain
> to
> > rip).
> > >
> > > In addition to new releases, companies like Sundazed are reissuing
> > thousands of classic country, rock, funk, and jazz LPs. It's a little
> > startling to walk into a shop and see pristine new copies of the first
> > Flying Burrito Brothers or Pretty Things record sitting in the bin for
> the
> > first time in forty years!
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > 78-L mailing list
> > > 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> > > http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 78-L mailing list
> > 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> > http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
> >
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
>