[78-L] First 78 & my filing system

[Robert M. Bratcher Jr.]

Well my 78's, 45's, LP's & radio station transcription discs are all on shelves 
in my home. Like some of you I've slowed way down in my collecting (or I could 
say accumulating) of more records. Basically I'm running out of room & will need 
to air condition the garage one day for more record storage!! I'd hate to have 
to rent climate controlled storage for some of my records. Anybody doing that?

The collection is separated by speed of course then by type of music. 
Alphabetical by artsist except classical which is alphabetical by composer. And 
yes I have my share of doubles & triples of a record (in the same speed) mainly 
because of upgrading condition but then I usually keep the other copy as a 
backup. Also I've got 45's & 78's of the same singles from the 1950's bought on 
purpose so that I'd have both of them. But then there are quite a few records 
where I have the 78 (or the 45) & I'm trying to track down the other speed!! 
Thats not always easy even with Ebay....




________________________________
From: Taylor Bowie <bowiebks at isomedia.com>
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Tue, December 21, 2010 1:38:44 PM
Subject: [78-L] First 78 & my filing system

Columbia 2946-D.  Irving Aaronson and His Commanders.  Pardon My Southern 
Accent b/w When You First Ate An Olive.

I have my orchestra (dance,  jazz,  etc.)  records filed separately from the 
vocals,  and have small sections for spoken word,  odd labels, foreign 
(non-English language) stuff.  All except foreign are filed alphabetically 
by artist,  then label,  then in numerical order within each label.  They 
are in 22 four-drawer file cabinets.  That doesn't count album sets,  12" or 
the approx  1,000 10" which are at this time unfiled...guess it's around 
20,000 which, more and more,  seems to be my threshold of pain as far as 
adding more.  I've really tried to slow down this last year,  and have sort 
of succeeded.

This is still satisfactory to me about 90% of the time...but it can be a 
problem with splits and even worse with pseudonyms.  I keep a lot of info in 
my head,  but damned if I can always remember which did what among all the 
issues I have labeled Lloyd Keating,  Jerry Fenwyck,  Frank Auburn,  Jack 
Whitney, Chester Leighton,  etc.

Other problem is when you get a bunch of new stuff by one artists and have 
to jiggle-shit the stuff around it from one drawer to another to make room. 
A few months ago I got a really nice batch of  E+ Lombardo Brunswicks and 
Columbias,  and ended up pulling all of Guy out and making a special section 
for him in the last drawer where I had some room.  I can't think of any 
other artist where I'm missing a lot and am also likely to find so I hope 
that will be that last "cheating" I do on my own system.

Upgrading to a better copy is the most fun because you just yank out the old 
one and replace it with the nice new "shinny" copy,  as they sometimes say 
on eBay.

Taylor