1941–1955
The home recorder in the front room
From the late 1930s a Wilcox-Gay Recordio sat in ordinary living rooms: a radio and a record player with a cutting head, sold on the promise that you could make records of your own. The blanks were aluminium or card coated in lacquer, good for perhaps a few dozen plays before the sound wore away, and people used them exactly as you would expect — to send greetings to relatives, to catch a child learning to talk, to record a party at the point in the evening when recording a party seems like a good idea. A barbershop quartet cut four sides in February and March of 1947. A grade three choir in Kerrisdale, Vancouver, sang two songs in April 1955. Three airmen sang into a microphone in 1946. None of it was made to be published, none of it was for sale, and all of it was bought back for a few dollars from an antique sale or a thrift shop by whoever put it online.
28 recordings · 2 machines and stations
What cut them
6 December
No. 28
1949
Home recordings
5 min
A ten-inch aluminium lacquer, printed “Wilcox-Gay Recordio Disc” and written up by hand as “Greetings by Reg, Eva, Mrs Sikes”. The flip side, labelled “Jokes, 12/6/49”, has cracked and cannot be played. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
8 March
No. 27
1947
Home recordings
1 min
Four single-sided home discs of a barbershop quartet. The first was cut on 8 March 1947, the rest on 13 February. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
13 February
No. 26
1947
Home recordings
1 min
Cut 13 February 1947. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
13 February
No. 25
1947
Home recordings
1 min
Cut 13 February 1947. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
13 February
No. 24
1947
Home recordings
1 min
Cut 13 February 1947. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 January
No. 23
1946
Home recordings
2 min
Three members of the Army Air Forces singing and talking, 1946, on a Recordio 78. Two are named on the disc as William and Robert Black. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
22 April
No. 22
1955
Home recordings
1 min
A grade three choir conducted by Murray Carmack, recorded 22 April 1955 on a ten-inch Recordio disc later found in a North Vancouver thrift shop. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
22 April
No. 21
1955
Home recordings
1 min
The second side, same session, 22 April 1955. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 March
No. 20
1949
Home recordings
3 min
From a set of Recordio discs cut by Martin and Kenneth Hammar in March 1949. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 March
No. 19
1949
Home recordings
4 min
The second attempt, kept because on a home recorder nothing is edited. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 March
No. 18
1949
Home recordings
4 min
Recordio disc, March 1949. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 March
No. 17
1949
Home recordings
4 min
Recordio disc, March 1949. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 March
No. 16
1949
Home recordings
4 min
Recordio disc, March 1949. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 15
Home recordings
6 min
A Wilcox-Gay Recordio disc: a group at a friend's birthday gathering singing “My Wild Irish Rose” and “Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here” to a piano, with the end of the party on the other side. Undated; the uploader reads it as 1940s. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 14
Home recordings
3 min
A damaged 78rpm Recordio disc with no writing on either label. The uploader hears a father and a child, possibly a father leaving for a long time. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 13
Home recordings
6 min
The reverse of the same disc: what sounds like a family gathering. Undated. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 12
Home recordings
6 min
A Wilcox-Gay Recordio disc bought in a Minnesota thrift shop, the player named only as Joanne on the handwritten label. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 11
Home recordings
1 min
The second title on the same damaged disc. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 10
Home recordings
1 min
A Wilcox-Gay lacquer blank, probably cut on a Recordio or Recordette. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 9
Home recordings
2 min
A red Recordio lacquer, catalogued by the archive with nothing but the words written on it. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 8
Home recordings
3 min
Heavily damaged Recordio disc, transferred as it plays. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
Undated
No. 7
Home recordings
1 min
A second damaged Recordio disc from the same uploader. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 May
No. 6
1948
Home recordings
3 min
From a set of Recordio discs bought at an antique sale for six dollars, dated to about 1948 by the seller. No performer information survives. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 May
No. 5
1948
Home recordings
4 min
Same set, about 1948. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 May
No. 4
1948
Home recordings
4 min
Same set, about 1948. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 May
No. 3
1948
Home recordings
4 min
Same set, about 1948. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 May
No. 2
1948
Home recordings
3 min
Same set, about 1948. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
1 May
No. 1
1948
Home recordings
2 min
Same set, about 1948. Recording held by the Internet Archive;
On this shelf
Home-cut Wilcox-Gay Recordio and lacquer discs, transferred from the original one-off pressings and held by the Internet Archive. Dates are given only where the disc or its label carries one.
