A GUIDE TO MICROFILMED EMI CATALOGUES
The following is intended as a brief guide to the microfilmed EMI record catalogues now
at The National Sound Archive. Until the catalogues are fully listed and indexed, it is
hoped that the description will help the potential user to find his way through the films.
The microfilms also contain recording ledgers, record industry periodicals and other
materials with will not [be] discussed here.
Source and scope
The microfilmed materials originally come from the EMI Music Archives at Hayes. The
organization and scope of the materials thus reflects what was originally done at Hayes.
(There seem to be some minor omissions of materials which are at Hayes but not on
microfilm but these omissions do not seem to be very important).
These are catalogues issued by the Gramophone Company, one of the companies which
merged to form EMI in 1931, and its various subsidiaries and agencies all over the world
as well as catalogues issued by the related Victor Talking Machine Co. of Camden, N.J.
The earliest catalogues date from 1898, the most recent from the 1960s.
It seems that all these companies were instructed to send copies of their publications to
the head office. This did not always happen: there are obvious gaps caused by wars,
neglect and perhaps other circumstances, but yet the collections is remarkably complete.
After 1931, EMI also controlled a number of other record companies, such as Pathé
Columbia and Linström/Odeon, Parlophone, Beka. As a rule, catalogues issued by these
affiliated companies are not included. Only in countries where the operations of the
Gramophone (HMV) and Columbia branches did not retain any independence, combined
catalogues were issued. Consequently, we get Polish Odeon, Roumanian Columbia,
Chinese Pathé etc, but these are exceptions to the rule. In addition, English Columbia,
Parlophone, Regal etc are also included. The Gramophone Co. issued records mainly on
the Gramophone (later, His Master’s Voice) and Zonophone labels. However, in some
countries other trade marks were also used. Consequently, there are also catalogues of
Russian Amour (1910s), Austrian Gramola (1920s), Indian Twin (1930s) and possibly
others.
The arrangement of the materials
When catalogues were received at Hayes, they were arranged chronologically by country.
In other cases they were filed (and microfilmed) separately.
Country does not refer so much to a geographical or political unit as the area where a
particular subsidiary company had headquarters at the time. For instance, France before
1911 also includes Portugal, as there was no separate Portuguese subsidiary and
Portuguese sales were handled from Paris. Consequently, in order to find catalogues or
recordings made in a particular country, we need to know how the Gramophone Co. was
organized.
Generally speaking, the company evolved towards increasing specialization. In 1898-02,
the parent company in the U.K. supplied all countries of the (reels 770-) world (except
America). By the late 1930s, most European countries had their own local branches, and
catalogues can consequently be found under each country’s name.
Germany c. 1903-09 (reels 398- ) includes Scandinavia and Central Europe, later
catalogues German only. Austria after 1903 (299- ) includes at first also Turkey and the
Balkan countries, but in 1907 these were transferred to Hungary. In the 1920s the Balkan
countries are included under Czechoslovakia.
Russia before 1917 includes also Bulgaria, Persia and the ethnic minorities of Imperial
Russia (Polish, Jewish, Estonian, Armenian etc) but not the Grand Duchy of Finland,
which is found under Scandinavia. Dutch catalogues for the first ten years include Dutch
East Indies, Penang and Singapore. India includes most neighbouring countries and
Southeast Asia.
In addition, special lists were frequently issued for ethnic minorities in many countries.
Russian and Hungarian lists can be found under Roumania, German lists under
Czechoslovakia etc. Catalogues of Jewish records were issued almost everywhere (e.g.
Russia, Czechoslovakia, Austria, France, South Africa, French North Africa, Russian
Caucasia, etc etc).
rev. J Harvell
2.7.02