Why do collectors collect things? Especially old things. The link with the past? The feeling that in some remote way, there’s a virtual thread linking you and an earlier era, or a particular individual?
As I’ve mentioned, I’m writing a long article about some late Victorian/Edwardian Scottish women musicians. It’s virtually finished. But there’s one more thing to do.
I have a single 78 rpm shellac recording of one of these women, whose reputation was not inconsiderable in her day. She played in London. She and her ‘orchestra ‘ made a handful of recordings. But I have no means of playing this precious artefact. I’ve tried to beg or borrow an old gramophone (or newer technology) to no avail, so eventually I bought a record player on Amazon.
All this because I wanted to know what instruments were in her band, a century ago! My article is incomplete without this detail.
Main image:- Beltona gramophone, post 1923, from Wikipedia.
Karen McAulay, Musicologist 