We featured this fabulous collection of digitized 78rpm records in August 2017, shortly after the Internet Archive released this collection. Since then, this collection has grown to include over 60,000 recordings. We love this collection not only because it is a delight to browse, but also because it documents a number of important movements in twentieth-century music history including early girl groups, calypso, gospel, folk, blues, and much, much more. Folks interested in staying abreast about new additions to this collection may want to follow the 78rpm Collection on Twitter: username @great78project.
The Internet Archive recently unveiled this digitized collection of over 25,000 recordings from 78rpm records. First introduced in 1898, 78 revolutions per minute (rpm) records were especially popular between 1920 and the late 1950s and continued to be produced as late as the 1970s. This collection provides a glimpse into a range of music produced throughout the twentieth century, including big band music, polka, gospel, country western, blues, novelty tunes, and much more. Visitors are invited to browse this collection by year (the earliest two records in this collection are George P. Watson's "Sleep Baby Sleep" and "Medley of Emmett's Yodels" from the year 1902), topics & subjects, collection, creator, or language. This collection includes both well-remembered classics by artists such as Bing Crosby, Count Basie, and Judy Garland, as well as a number of more obscure records. There are also a few non-musical recordings, such as Yiddish language lessons and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressing Congress in 1942.
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