The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

where is a good place to learn about the various record labels througout the years? is there a book somewhere?

There are books for some major labels like Edison, Victor, and Columbia. Find the thread here called "suggested books" and you get lots of info.

alrighty! thanks

From Tin Foil to Stereo by Read and Welch includes a timeline showing when some of the more notable labels were active and their succession of formats (cylinders, vertical cut disks, lateral 78s, etc.). Back in the days when I was starting out, in the early 1970s (and, coincidentally, in Knoxville!), it was the standard survey of recording history; I think it's a bit dated now, and it certainly is not the liveliest reading, but it does cover the subject in some detail and probably would repay your attention. The authors had a noticeable bias in favor of Edison, with Victor coming in second. At that time the other general survey was a book called The Fabulous Phonograph by Roland Gelatt; it was a more popular, readable take on the subject but not nearly as detailed. Gelatt's bias was favorable to Victor, with Edison coming in second. Both volumes viewed Columbia with something of a jaundiced eye, and I strongly suspect the lesser popularity of Columbia machines and records that persists, in diminished form, to this very day can be traced back to those unflattering volumes' being the only readily available sources of information for the older generations of collectors.

Great, Ill check it out. are you still living in Knoxville?

I'm afraid I left Knoxville decades ago; I live in the suburbs of Washington, DC now, having also spent time in Texas and Georgia. Does a monthly flea market still take place in the Jacobs Building on the fairgrounds in East Knoxville? That was one of my favorite haunts when I was a beginning collector, and it yielded up a phonograph or two and any number of records, although most of my early "finds" were at ramshackle "antique shops" and "junque shops" that lined the Chapman Highway between Knoxville and Pigeon Forge. Frequently those would have big stacks of 78s for 25 cents or 50 cents apiece. Now they are all gone, swallowed up in the inflation of property values brought on by Dollywood.

Which, by the way, was not even thought of when I started. The core site was a little Wild West theme park that began as "Goldrush Junction" and then became something called "Silver Dollar City," I gather part of a chain of such things. That went bust, eventually Dolly Parton bought the property, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I do not know about that flea market!! I hate to think about the things that I missed!! I will have to see if it still happens and start going!

I will say my best finds have been through my daily search of craigslist... although it seems that those good deals have all but ended! I use to travel an hour or so in the car and pick up hundreds of 78's for less than $100!. I picked up a fantastic collection of early labels, (Oriole, Banner, Okeh, Harmony, Diva, etc) from a fellow of craigslist here in knoxville.
I did pick up an Edison B-250 from a thrift shop for on $75 early on in my collection. Although "early on" may be a bad term haha, I have been doing things for a little over 2 years now. That Edison may have been my best deal so far.

But flea markets do seem like the place to go! ill have to look it up!

(edit)- it does appear to still be going? the dates for a 2020 flea market off Clinton Flea market have been posted online

Have fun looking here...
http://www.tedstaunton.com/site_map/site_map.html

James.

I believe this is it, or at least a descendant of it:

http://www.discoverourtown.com/TN/Knoxv ... 54982.html

Oh okay! Thanks for telling me about it!