The Barrett Manor Victrola Record Database
When Julie was growing up, her grandmother had a Victrola. It was awesome, and she had hopes of inheriting it one day, but it turns out those things are a bear to ship!
One afternoon, when when we were working at the Texas Broadcast Museum, someone left a Victrola cabinet on the curb. It had been in a fire, and the varnish had burnt. We took it home because the museum had no use for it. Julie cleaned it up and then it sat. For years. Finally, in 2018 she decided it was time to either do something with it or get rid of it. By this time, parts had become a lot less expensive, so she cobbled together enough parts to make a working unit.
We started with a stash of records a great aunt (sister to the grandmother) had given to Julie's mother. Our collection is slowly growing.
Julie got the idea to start a database. When we go shopping for new records, that will help us avoid duplicates. We decided it might be fun to share out that database. Whenver possible, she's linked to Archive.org so you can hear what they sound like. The plan is to add more records and possibly pictures of record labels.
WARNING: These records are very much a product of their times in terms of content. We inherited a lot of sentimental and religious music, plus an interesting collection of marches and WW I patriotic tunes. Apologies in advance if you run into something racist. Julie did pull blatantly racist stuff from the database. If you run across something offensive, let us know so we can review it and either flat or remove it.
We're hoping to expand out collection and are on the look out for foxtrots and more danceable stuff. Think about what Bertie Wooster or Phryne Fisher might have enjoyed. If you like that, then start with the foxtront category.
With that in mind, let's get started. When you search for a title you may want to use as few words as possible. Some compound words might be two separate words, and there are a few UK spellings. If the search result is blank, then try again and see if you have any luck. Click on a song title to see the details.
Alternatively, you may browse the entire list.