Read Me Paper!
My archives class met last night for the last time - this semester, anyway. I hope I'm in the next part of the course next semester. We had a final exam. It was not what I expected. The mid-term had been essay questions asking about specific things. Last night the final was again essay questions, but this time they asked me to connnect the dots and draw material together. It was hard.
But - although I didn't my paper back that I handed in the week before the instructor gave me really good feedback about it. He said it was "a superior read."
So I'll share.
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Phonograph Record Preservation
Compared to the thousands of years that people have collected and saved the written word, the 115-odd years we have had the opportunity to collect recorded sound seems a bare instant. Yet it has been a very eventful instant, witness to some of the quickest and most drastic changes in history. More differences have occurred in lifestyle and culture between 1890 and 2005 than occurred over a millennia in the Middle Ages. Old recordings provide a method to experience the sound of the past, which is unique in history. It is important to preserve these recordings when yesterday becomes distant so quickly.
The format of recorded sound which has existed the longest is the phonograph record. Before 1910 the dominant format was the cylinder record, a tube with the sound grooves wrapped around the outside. The disc became most common after 1912, and in another form the disc is still the most common format today. Old records are fragile and were neglected by serious curatorial interests for years. For this reason the preservation of the records that remain is of great importance.
The preservation of all old records, whether disc or cylinder, has a few general tenants. The storage area should be kept at a constant, cool temperature, with low humidity. The records should be protected from ultraviolet light. The areas where they are used and stored should be kept as clean and as free of dust as possible.1 Likewise, the records themselves should be kept as clean as possible, but cleaning recordings should be conducted only if absolutely necessary.2 However, each record format has some distinct requirements for optimum care beyond these
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conditions, and each one has a story.
Although Thomas Edison patented his phonograph in 1877, the sale of pre-recorded phonocylinders for use in homes did not begin until the early 1890's. Previous strategies to market phonographs promoted their use as a dictation machine in businesses. The cylinder phonograph had the advantage that the home operator could make records as well as play them. The early Edison records were 4 3/16" long and 2 1/8" wide and were made of wax that varied in color from brown to almost white. They are generally referred to as "two-minute" cylinders but the playing time varied and could be almost twice as long. In the first years of production each record sold was cut in the studio on a machine in front of musicians who performed a given piece over and over. By 1892 an acoustic duplicating process had been developed that yielded 150 copies from each original. In these early days of the recording industry there were no industry standards and records made by one company could not be played on another company’s machine. Brown wax cylinders were fragile and susceptible to wear quickly from use. A method of mass-producing cylinder records in molds was not developed until 1902. The molded process led to the introduction of a black wax material which was more durable. Cylinder records continued to be made out of wax until 1912. That year Columbia, Edison’s only real competition in the cylinder phonograph market, quit producing cylinder records completely in favor of the disc. Also in 1912, Edison’s company introduced the four-minute "Blue Amberol" record which was marketed until the company closed in 1929. The Blue Amberol was made of celluloid molded around a plaster core and was advertised as unbreakable. 3
The Library of Congress currently recommends that for long-term storage the environment should be kept constantly cold and dry - 45 to 50 degrees and 20 - 30% relative
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humidity. Cylinders should be kept in the dark and protected from ultra-violet sources such as sunlight and unshielded fluorescent lamps.4
Walter Welch, the curator at the Syracuse University Audio Archives, recommends that humidity of not more than 10% be maintained in the cylinder storage environment. Wax cylinders are very susceptible to mold and this very low humidity would prohibit its growth. Also, the wax compound the records are made of often contains wood flour which can absorb moisture, expand, and distort the playing surface. However, it would be difficult and expensive to construct an environment which could maintain such a low level of humidity. In addition, once the cylinders were acclimated to this environment they could never be removed for use. Wax cylinders are even more affected by environmental change than other records and exposure to new levels of temperature and humidity could cause breakage.5
Cylinders should be stored standing on end. They should be handled by spreading two fingers inside the middle hole until they just touch the inside. As with all records the groove surface should never be touched. Oils from fingers can attract dust and other particulates which affect playback. Touching can also introduce fungi to the surface. Since a cold wax cylinder can shatter from the warmth of the average human hand, they should be allowed to slowly reach room temperature before being handled directly.6
The mold which attacks wax cylinders can eventually eat away the playing surface and destroy the recording. However, if the mold hasn’t gotten too far it can be cleaned off. Phonograph collectors and enthusiasts suggest several methods for doing so. However, Geoffrey Brown, the curator of conservation at the Kelsey Museum, University of Michigan, advocates a method which has been used by the Library of Congress and the Archives of Traditional Music at
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Indiana University to clean thousands of cylinders. Brown recommends using a lukewarm 1% solution of Labtone Detergent, a product of VWR Scientific, and deionized water. Labtone Detergent was developed to clean laboratory glassware. The cylinders are immersed in the solution and gently rubbed around the outside with a piece of polyester velvet or velveteen, then rinsed well in running deionized water. The records can then be left to air-dry on a draining or absorbent surface or dried with a non-abrasive cotton wipe.
Brown also recommends not replacing cleaned cylinders in their original boxes without altering the boxes somewhat. He advises removing any porous material from them and replacing it with a lining of 2 - 3 layers of polyester felt. To prevent future mold attacks the box should be ventilated with a 1-inch round hole in the bottom.7
Walter Welch recommends that cylinders be stored in boxes, large enough to hold about twelve, with cardboard tubes mounted on the inside bottom. The tunes serve as spindles that the records slip down over, holding them upright. They should be spaced far enough apart that the cylinders do not touch each other. This design also allows for air to circulate inside the box. Alternatively, sections of cardboard tube could be cut to create individual storage boxes similar to the ones the records were originally sold in. However, a dust-proof lid would have to be fashioned somehow, and ideally the materials would be acid-free.8
The celluloid and plaster Edison Blue Amberol has a few problems of its own. Often the plaster core swells over time so that eventually it will no longer fit on the phonograph. Conversely, the celluloid shrinks and will crack. Phonograph collectors have developed a few methods to continue to play these damaged records. The swollen plaster core can be reamed out with a tool available from phonograph hobbyist suppliers. The celluloid cracks start at one end
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of the record and work towards the middle of the outside surface; they can be stopped by drilling a tiny hole at the very end of the crack. However, at least a few grooves of the beginning or ending of the music will be lost, depending on how far the crack grew before being noticed.9
Disc records were first marketed by Emile Berliner in Germany in 1889, and in the United States in 1892. In 1901 this concern became the Victor Talking Machine Company, the first major phonograph company to market disc records. Disc records had some advantages over cylinders. They were easier to mass produce from a mold and took up less storage space. The first discs were hard rubber. This material was replaced by a mixture of shellac and various fillers by 1900. Early discs were only seven inches in diameter but by 1910 a ten-inch diameter had become standard along with a twelve-inch for longer classical music pieces. At this time discs had so taken over the marketplace that even the Edison company introduced a disc phonograph in 1914. Phonograph and record sales slumped in the 1920's with the introduction of radio, but the introduction of electrical recording with microphones in 1925 improved sales again. The 78 rpm shellac disc become the recording industry standard until the long-playing vinyl disc was introduced in 1948.10
In the 1930's though the introduction of smaller and lighter equipment made electronic recording portable. Ethnomusicologists and early oral historians sought out subjects to record on site. In addition, the radio and film industries began making recordings. New materials were introduced for the media of these noncommercial recordings such as cellulose acetate and cellulose nitrate. Zinc discs were used for some field recordings. These new materials had some disadvantages, however. While the acetate and nitrate discs had soft surfaces and therefore a record could be "cut" easily, this also meant that a recording could only be played back a few
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times before the quality began to downgrade significantly.11
A. G. Pickett and M. M. Lemcoe discovered in their 1959 study of record preservation that there is no such thing as an average shellac make-up. A shellac record is usually only one-third shellac. Record manufacturers often stretched shellac by mixing it with a variety of aggregates such as clay or cellulosic flour. Some of these ingredients made records more brittle as they aged. Some organic substances made the records susceptible to fungi. Some records simply wear out quickly from being played. Therefore, Pickett and Lemcoe drew the conclusion that it would be impossible to predict with certainty how well a particular shellac disc will age.12
In the storage of disc records their arrangement on the shelf is paramount. The disc shape is easily distorted by external pressure and may become warped. Warping will affect playback and if severe enough, the record is completely unplayable. The method which is both most conservative of space and best for the discs is vertically on end. Effort should be made to ensure that the records stay completely vertical at all times. If the records lean on the shelf the weight load transferred through the slant can cause distortion. To prevent this many institutions install vertical subdividers at intervals in the shelves. The shelves themselves should be very sturdy because even a small collection of shellac 78s is quite heavy.
Single shellac records were originally packaged in paper sleeves. Recordings of lengthy works such as symphonies were sets of 12-inch discs sold in an album of bound sleeves. It is not recommended to keep shellac records in the original packaging. The sleeves in albums are tight at the spine end and can pinch a disc and break it. The paper is also a nourishing habitat for fungi. The Library of Congress keeps all nonrare 78s in thirty five-pound acid-free kraft paper sleeves. Very rare shellac discs are kept in a kraft paper sleeve sealed inside a plastic envelope.
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The seal protects the disc from dust and changes in humidity. Only records that have been copied by some means are sealed up in this manner.13
Geoffrey Brown recommends cleaning shellac records with a method similar to that he suggests for cleaning cylinders. Brown again suggest using a solution of Labtone Detergent and deionized water, wiped on with a polyester velvet cloth. Unlike the older format discs cannot be submerged in the solution because of their paper labels. After wiping the solution on in the direction of the grooves, it should be dried off with cotton wipes. The record should be exposed to moisture the least amount of time possible. Water can absorb into the shellac and swell it, causing permanent distortion. Alcohol should never be used because it dissolves shellac.14
The era of 78s came to an end when Columbia Records introduced the long playing, 33 1/3 rpm, microgroove record after World War II. The medium could present an entire symphony on a single disc; the same amount of music on 78s could occupy more than five. Columbia offered the technology to its greatest competitor, RCA Victor, but they refused to accept it. A few months later RCA Victor introduced its own microgroove vinyl record, the seven-inch 45 rpm disc. A disadvantage to the 45 was that it doesn’t play any longer than a ten-inch 78 does, nonetheless RCA Victor intended to market long works on sets of 45s just as they had on 78s. The public grew confused and record sales slumped drastically. A year later, in January, 1950, RCA Victor announced that their catalogue of artists would be released on 33 1/3 rpm 12-inch discs. However, in a public relations coup they announced that their 45 rpm disc was the ideal medium for popular music. Thus, the two record formats of the second half of the twentieth century were born.15
At the time Pickett and Lemcoe conducted their study of record preservation, the vinyl
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record had only been around eleven years. To get an idea of how vinyl discs would age, they submitted sample records to varying temperatures and humidity levels, stress, and fungi. From their findings they deduced that vinyl discs have a very long potential life-span provided they are protected from ultraviolet light, kept below 80 degrees, and stored vertically. They stated that humidity control was not a crucial concern but recommended that records be packaged in material that is resistant to fungus growth.16
Vinyl LPs are not as heavy as shellac 78s but their weight combined in large numbers can be considerable, so they should be stored on heavy-duty shelving as well. As with 78s, they should be kept vertical, ideally with shelf subdividers to prevent slanting. The Library of Congress keeps their collection of LPs in open-ended cardboard boxes placed on the shelves. This method not only keeps the records up-right but facilitates shifting when necessary. Because of the great difference in size between a 12-inch LP and a seven-inch 45, most institutions store these records separately. Walter Welch suggests keeping 45s in horizontal stacks in trays on the shelves. While LPs and 78s should never be kept in horizontal stacks, 45s are light enough that in a short stack, the bottom discs would not be damaged.
The original packaging of LPs and 45s is sufficient for short-term storage, unless the factory shrink-wrap on an LP cover is still intact. This cellophane should always be removed because it will contract and cause the disc to warp. For long-term storage, replacing paper and glassine inner sleeves with polyethylene sleeves is recommended. Both paper and glassine contain acid that can be harmful to the record.
There were once many products and devices on the market to clean vinyl records. Many of these are now unavailable. However, an excellent job may be done with some basic items.
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Water is not harmful to vinyl records, but distilled water should be used to clean them. Tap water contains dissolved minerals which can crystallize in the grooves and cause distortion during playback. Joy brand liquid detergent can be used. A weak solution of one teaspoon per gallon of water is recommended. The solution should be applied with a soft cotton chamois cloth, like on other record formats moving in the direction of the grooves. The discs can be allowed to air dry.17
At the time of their manufacture most of the producers of these record formats where not concerned with the long-term preservation of their products. The record was a good sold to turn a profit. Yet the recordings captured snapshots of our culture and sensibilities at the time. In Columbia’s 1898 cylinder record catalogue, No. 15064 in the "Descriptive" category, "Down on the Suwanee River," portrays aurally "Pulling in the Gang Plank, Steamboat Bells, Whistle, and Dance on Board with Negro Shouts and Clogs."18 What a window to the past. Many examples of these windows have been lost due to neglect, apathy, or housecleaning. Those that remain should be preserved as long as possible. They are a unique and irreplaceable portrait for our ears.
