[78-L] Victor "E" in runout

[Bryan Wright]

For several years, I've been puzzled by a large capital "E" in the  
runout of some Victor records from the mid-late 1920s. I'm not talking  
about the "VE" oval, but rather a standalone "E" sometimes stamped  
directly below the "VE" bug. Today, I took some Victor records in my  
own collection bearing that "E" and looked them up in the UCSB online  
Victor discography. I noticed that the original file cards for all of  
them carried some indication that the records were marketed "for  
educational use." Aha! Could it be that the "E" in the runout  
designates a record intended for educational use? Since I presume the  
"VE" oval was stamped to indicate an electric recording for purposes  
of royalty payments to Western Electric, perhaps Victor and Western  
Electric had an agreement for discounted royalties on records made for  
educational use? And perhaps the extra "E" was Victor's way of marking  
the "educational" records? Can anyone confirm my theory? And if I'm  
wrong, does anyone know what the "E" *does* indicate?

Thanks,
Bryan