The Acoustic Recordings of Stephen C. Foster's Music

GEORGE C CREEGAN

The purpose of the study was to identify and list in a discography the acoustic recordings of Stephen Foster's music made in the United States between the dates of 1896 when the commercial sale of recordings began and 1925 when the acoustic era ended. In addition, all available biographical sketches and photographs of the artists who recorded the Foster music were identified and organized in an archive collection. Audiocassettes of all available acoustic foster recordings were transferred from original cylinders and discs .

The method was to use an authoritative list of Foster music to compile listings from all available record archives, card files, contemporary record catalogues, supplements, advertising, etc. Original records and cylinders were transferred to audiocassettes. These original records and cylinders came from the record collection at the Stephen C. Foster Memorial, University of Pittsburgh, and the author's collection .

The resulting Stephen Foster Acoustic Discography lists over four hundred and fifty published and thirty-two unpublished acoustic recordings made between 1890 and 1925, including cylinders of all sizes, speeds and manufacture, both wax and celluloid, two and four minute or longer; disc recordings sizes 5´´ through 12´´, both Hillandale and lateral cut. Sixty-four artist biographies with thirty-two photographs were produced along with seven one-hour audiocassettes, containing one hundred and twenty-four Foster selections .

The research was supported in part by a grant from the Association of Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC). The discography, archives and cassettes are on file with the curator, the University of Pittsburgh Center for American Music, Pittsburgh 15260 .

Edison's remarkable invention of sound recording in 1877 generated a major industry, which was based on his acoustical recording process. Edison's sound preservation technique and the industry it spawned have produced many thousands of unique recorded artifacts.

The very basis of phonography since the earliest days has been the preservation of sound for posterity. However, to what extent the shellac, celluloid, vulcanized rubber, or wax of earlier recorded surfaces will survive the vicissitudes of time and use is speculative -- how much is already lost, how much can be salvaged, has yet to be determined. What we can save for future generations will depend on how fast we can move to preserve them before they are irretrievably...