Music’s Golden Age Of Vinyl On Display At Booth Library

The 1954 recording of “Teach Me Tonight” by The de Castro Sisters highlights an entertaining and educational stroll down memory lane at Cyrenius H. Booth Library, where an exhibition on music’s Golden Age of Vinyl is on display through November 15. The exhibition was organized by Robert Frazer of Bethel.

“The first commercially viable medium was the wax-coated brass cylinder,” says Mr Frazer. “No method existed in the late 1800s to reproduce cylinders. Each was an original. It was the invention of the flat disc that allowed mass production.”

Columbia Graphophone Company and Victor Talking Machine Company were formed, and records were off and running – mostly heard by the public at fairgrounds and penny arcades as acoustic jukeboxes. The 1906 introduction of the Victrola brought music reproduction into the home.

People think of records as black discs, but on display are also red, white, blue and green ones; floppy records; some covered with dramatic art; and records of various sizes, speeds, and shapes.

“We hope this exhibit increases people’s appreciation of the many technological and artistic innovations that occurred during the history of musical recordings,” says Mr Frazer.

The exhibit can be viewed during library hours: Monday to Thursday, 10 am to 8 pm; Friday, noon to 5 pm; Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, 1 to 5 pm.