The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Does anyone have an Educational type of blue amberol, that was used with an Edison School House machine? I would like to have some with my School House for demonstrations.
Thanks
Mister Opera at http://www.misteropera.com

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Those are crazy hard to find, with the exception of the first six titles. The series ran from #1651 to 1710. The first six were technically part of the Educational series but they had enough cross-over appeal to the general public to have been sold in good numbers. These were all recreations of famous speeches like "Lincoln's Speech at Gettysburg." Those are reasonably common today.

The remaining numbers are the serious educational records, like "Dictation and Spelling, 2nd Year, 1st Half, Lesson 1." The only one I was ever lucky enough to find is "Fifteen Review Problems in Denominate Numbers," but it's a keeper.

If you can't find those rare titles it's worth getting the speeches since they are legitimately considered as part of the series.

I hope you get lucky!

Other than the speeches, which are fairly common, I have only seen 2 of the educational series on ebay on the last 5+ years. Both were in groups of otherwise common cylinders. The lots went for several hundred dollars each, solely because of the rarity of the educational cylinder.

I just realized that I was not quite accurate when I wrote that "it's worth getting the speeches since they are legitimately considered as part of the series." They were not just considered part of the series from today's perspective, they were officially listed as part of the series by the Edison company. The titles may not be sexy but they are authentic educational records.

The annunciation on such records as the "Blue and the Gray", "Washington's Farewell Address", and Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" give a modern condenser microphone a run for it's money! This is the Farewell Address" https://youtu.be/6_s31AB3re0