Ward Harris - Phonograph Collector

[Phonomark]

Forum Members-

Does anyone remember Ward Harris?

It's my understanding that he was a significant collector of Edison phonographs in the San Francisco area. I have an Edison Concert and, inside the drawer, is a sales tag indicating that the machine came from the Ward Harris Collection. Another website credits Ward Harris as an Edison Mimeograph Dealer from the late 20's.

Any insight or additional information out there?

-Mark

[PeterF]

Al Sefl probably knows.

[Let Us Not Forget]

Ward Harris was an Ediphone dealer in the early 20th century. He collected thousands of Edison items. I think Harris passed away in the late 60s. Check out these photos showing the Harris collection being moved from California to West Orange:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 621&type=3

Another interesting link here:

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/51696052/

[Phonomark]

Thanks for the links, very interesting. I was also able to find a couple of additional snippits on the internet:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 8567&hl=en

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/05/06/h ... /21180515/

My Edison Concert is Serial No. C5174 which corresponds to the Ward Harris tag found inside the drawer. Plus my Concert is a Bacigalupi machine which fits the machine's SF origin.

Here is a photo of the tag from inside the drawer....looks like they were asking $1900 for the machine (which seems like a lot of money at that time).