[78-L] Aeolian-Vocalion discography

[Ryan Barna]

Greetings! I'm happy to announce that my first major compilation, "Aeolian-Vocalion Hill and Dale Records (1918-1920)," is almost ready for distribution and review. It documents all 387 of Aeolian's known vertical-cut releases between 1918 and 1920 (recordings made ca. July 1917 to November 1919), plus several extra features that will detail the history and significance of these records, and the company. The research has been coming together very nicely. I have been fortunate (actually, lucky) enough to locate a near-complete run of Aeolian bulletins, detailing every release, plus acquiring the data of other excellent researchers who examined (even X-rayed!) most of the original discs for matrix numbers. However, I still need your help. There's a lot of missing matrix numbers that are either not on the discs, or in some cases, no discs were examined at all (and the list is still rather lengthy). I still believe there are other collections and institutions out there with a near-complete run of these, or other individuals who have examined many of the originals for numbers, so I thought it would be wise to reach out to my fellow collectors for additional help. If you are interested, let me know by August 10, 2012 (you don't have to submit data by then, I just need to know how many of you are willing to participate so that I have enough time to decide on how to pursue this in the upcoming weeks). I want to hear from you, even if you only have one disc. One is better than none. If you don't know where to look for the numbers on the discs, I can provide instructions. If you have a substantial amount of these records (too large to take the time to inspect and transcribe each one), and are located in the vicinity of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware, or DC, I will be happy to schedule an onsite appointment upon your permission. Once published, it will probably be the most complete and accurate compilation of these discs since the last catalog of them was published January 1, 1920 (and even that old catalog is not complete or accurate). Ryan Barnaryansrecords1 at hotmail.com