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If anyone is interested I just put this on ebay
Edison 4M wax record #32 N****r Loves His Possum collins & harlan with dealer tag
http://www.ebay.com/itm/192054525148?ss ... 1555.l2649

Might want to correct the spelling of "Harlan"

Fran

You might want to delete it - kinda offensive, don't you think?

zipcord wrote:You might want to delete it - kinda offensive, don't you think?

Offensive? Maybe but if we delete everything people find offensive we would have no need for history books would we?

zipcord wrote:You might want to delete it - kinda offensive, don't you think?

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

There's nothing wrong with this record in a historical context, I own a Gold Moulded copy myself, as well as a few copies on Victor.

Ditto and ditto. No one here has endorsed the content of this record, nor its language. It's an historical document, and no longer relevant in our society except as an illustration of the progress that has been made over the past century.

If someone chooses to be offended by this particular record (and let's be clear: it's a choice), they should do themselves a favor and simply avoid old records. And old films. And old books, magazines, and newspapers.

"Peace on earth; good will to men." (And women too, of course!)

George P.

oldtvsandtoys wrote:

zipcord wrote:You might want to delete it - kinda offensive, don't you think?

Offensive? Maybe but if we delete everything people find offensive we would have no need for history books would we?

I think THAT is the current mindset... delete history.
The main reason for learning history is to see that human nature repeats itself over and over and will continue to do so without a change in attitude and perspective. EVERYONE is capable of becoming a tyrant. If you don't want to return to the days of extreme racism, ethnic cleansing and extermination, you might want to learn what people have been capable of doing in the past... don't be offended by it and bury it... change it. Most people have changed from using the "N" word and are aware of it's previous connotation...

I agree with all of you. Forget the past and you will repeat it

I agree that deleting this would be eliminating history. I own this on Victor and Columbia disk records. If this record is on a Blue Amberol, or Indestructible, I'll buy it in a heartbeat.. I don't collect wax Amberols. Heck, I have a small collection of these types of records. That was the attitude of the day. I don't endorse the content, I collect them for historical purposes. I hope it doesn't get to the point that the PC police come knocking on my door to confiscate my collection(sarcasm intended). A new collector told me how offensive these records are. I told him that is is part of history and will buy them. That collector and I don't have anything to do with each other any more.
Harvey Kravitz

Curt A wrote:

oldtvsandtoys wrote:

zipcord wrote:You might want to delete it - kinda offensive, don't you think?

Offensive? Maybe but if we delete everything people find offensive we would have no need for history books would we?

I think THAT is the current mindset... delete history.
The main reason for learning history is to see that human nature repeats itself over and over and will continue to do so without a change in attitude and perspective. EVERYONE is capable of becoming a tyrant. If you don't want to return to the days of extreme racism, ethnic cleansing and extermination, you might want to learn what people have been capable of doing in the past... don't be offended by it and bury it... change it. Most people have changed from using the "N" word and are aware of it's previous connotation...

I never set out to collect such records but I accumulated quite a lot of them over the years, especially back in the 60s when I would typically get dozens (or even hundreds) of records with every phonograph I sold. I have one shelf in my half-barrel which houses them all together. I rarely play them but every once in a blue moon I find someone who is seriously interested in cultural history, and I will play a couple of them. People are astonished by how crude they are by today's standards. I always point out that it's a good sign of how far we have come in the past century.

I also have a small collection of WWI songs that have their own dedicated shelf. Those are also culturally fascinating. A few years ago I spent part of an evening playing some for a history teacher at the school where my wife worked. She was blown away by the way the songs evolved -- from hyper-patriotic songs like "America, Here's My Boy" to "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier." It is a very telling progression that shows how the home front soured on the war as the casualties rose.

All of these records, even the most benign and maudlin tunes, are part of our history and should be appreciated for that.