Records: What's pre-1942, and what's later?

[eighteenbelow]

I've started the daunting task of organizing my 78's (I have no idea how many, but it's in the thousands), and the two most important distinctions as far as I'm concerned are acoustic or electric, and pre-1942 or 1942-and-later. I've posted the acoustic/electric question in another thread.

Regarding the second question, I have a rough idea of what is pre-1942 and what is 1942-and-later for some labels, thanks mostly to Steven Barr's very helpful Almost Complete 78 RPM Record Dating Guide, but I don't know how precise it is. If anyone can tell me the exact catalog number that a record label would have used on 1/1/1942 (or thereabouts), I would be grateful for that information.

I would also propose that other forum members who have the same question about other labels post them on this thread, so that it might be a clearinghouse for such information.

The five labels I'm most concerned with right now are:

Victor (black label)
Columbia (red label)
Decca
Bluebird
Okeh


Thanks in advance for your help, and again, I hope other people will post their label-dating questions, too!

[Wolfe]

Very general. All those labels existed prior to 1942.

The red "microphone label" Columbia's were introduced in 1939 I believe. Victor always had a black label line going back to the early 1900's.

You can use a resource like this to help narrow things down.
http://78discography.com

[Inigo]

The trick of famous discographies stopping in 1942 is because of a general streak in recording of the American federation of musicians, led by James C Petrillo, and universally known as the Petrillo Ban. Due to misagreements between the AFM, major syndicate of American musicians, and the big record companies, a steak was declared, and no musicians belonging to the AFM (the majority of them) would play for recordings until an agreement was achieved. The streak or ban lasted one year, and record companies, having no musicians to do new recordings, started to launch vocal only records, torch songs, etc. This was also the bomb to m make record companies to start the old recordings reissues programmes, when the 'history of jazz' reissue albums were launched by major record companies. Eventually Decca signed the agreement in 1943, then followed by the others. Another similar ban occurred in 1948, but this second one lasted only a few months. Barr book talks about this. This is the only special thing about 1942.
The impact was reportedly greater, for after the ban was over, the musical scenery had changed, and swing bands were no more the leading fashion.
Capitol records was founded in 1942, and by the time of the ban, they have recorded only some hundred matrixes. Other companies had a background catalogue that they used for reissues, but Capitol was new, and had nothing.
That's why their number matrixes are so low. Matrixes in the high 100s-200 range and after, were recorded in 1943-44, after the ban.

[eighteenbelow]

My interest in pre-1942 records isn't about pre-strike and post-strike, but about the physical composition of the disc itself. During the war, they changed the composition of discs to conserve resources; as a result, they are flimsier and more easily broken than pre-1942 discs. (I also think they sound different.) After the war, they did not revert back to the pre-war composition. In my experience, pre-1942 discs don't fare well in pre-war record changers.

Also, I just like pre-WWII music more.

[Wolfe]

Shipping lane restrictons curtailed the use of shellac during WWII.