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Victor Talking Machine Company advertising brochure

Creation: 1914
 Collection
Accession: 1998-266

Abstract

The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American phonograph record company. In 1901, Eldridge Johnson (1867-1945) combined his patents with those of Emile Berliner (1851-1929), incorporating the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey and adopting the "His Master's Voice" trademark from Berliner. It increased in success by signing Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) and John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932) among others to recording contracts, by introducing the Victrola with its enclosed horn in 1906, and by improving recording technology. This item is an advertising brochure for Victor Talking Machine Company records.

Dates

  • Creation: 1914

Creator

Extent

1 item(s)

General Physical Description

1 sheet : col. ill. ; 9.5 x 9.5 in. folded to 9.5 x 4.5 in.

Historical Note

The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American phonograph record company. In 1901, Eldridge Johnson (1867-1945) combined his patents with those of Emile Berliner (1851-1929), who received a U.S. patent for the gramophone, the first commercially available flat disk playing phonograph. In 1895, Berliner and a group of investors started the Berliner Gramophone Company. Berliner's design improved on the phonograph invented by Thomas Edison (1847-1931) in 1877 as it allowed for ease of duplication from a master recording, but the hand-cranked gramophone could not maintain constant speed and pitch while playing.

In 1896, Eldridge Reeves Johnson (1867-1945), a machinist from Camden, New Jersey, developed a spring motor for the Berliner gramophone and began to produce motors, sound boxes and metal parts for Berliner Gramophone. When Emile Berliner underwent legal difficulties, Johnson decided to adopt a brand name and distribute his own gramophones. In 1900, Eldridge Johnson formed the Consolidated Talking Machine Company with Leon F. Douglass (1869-1940), but it would be short lived. In 1901, Johnson combined his patents with those of Emile Berliner, incorporating the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey and adopting the "His Master's Voice" trademark from Berliner.

The Victor Talking Machine Company increased in success by signing Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) and John Phillip Sousa (1854-1932) among others to recording contracts, by introducing the Victrola with its enclosed horn in 1906, and by improving recording technology. The company continued to expand into the 1920s, when sales began to flatten with the popularity of radio. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, becoming the RCA Victor Company.

Scope and Content

This item is an advertising brochure for Victor Talking Company records. The colorful cover illustration shows guests in formal attire rising from the dinner table. The inner illustration shows the guests seated around an ornate drawing room with a Victrola in the middle of the floor. The hostess is greeting performers in costumes from various operas.

Location

GL Box 2.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Language of Materials

English

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title:
Victor Talking Machine Company advertising brochure
Date:
2015
Description rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description:
English
Script of description:
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Audiovisual Collections Repository

Contact:
PO Box 3630
Wilmington Delaware 19807 USA
302-658-2400