Tips on Dating the Undated LP
Remember, these are guidelines to help you date an LP, not hard and fast rules. A guess
at a decade is certainly more helpful to the patron than a guess at a century.
1) Check the graphics. Album covers have featured some of the 20th century's most
famous iconography. Whole books have been written on the subject.
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Early LPs (ca. 1948-1955) tend to feature very few colors on their containers,
usually just two or three. Cover art is minimal, and favors the easily reproduced
line-drawing. LPs of this era were not generally "printed" in large runs (ca. 30005000), as the market was just not yet there, so economy of materials, such as the
cardboard, was the norm.
Color photographs were used more frequently in the later 1950's (and have
that "technicolor" look), and were very common and more natural looking from
the 1960's onward.
Digital artwork, airbrush techniques, and refined graphics are a hallmark of
album covers from 1967 and beyond. This is said to be a direct relation of the
psychedelic and drug cultures' influence. The dominant sector was rock & roll,
and the emergence of the musician's "artistic control" of their own covers. Eyecatching packaging and double-sleeves are common.
Cover content changes as standards of decency shift. Rock and roll and
Popular genres in the early years almost always featured very clean-cut looking
groups of people, mostly white. Jazz and Rhythm & Blues tended toward the
more risque, and were not as reticent to feature black performers or abstract art.
When the "teenager" was discovered as a money-maker for record sales (as the
Beatles' 1964 introduction to the U.S. took off), many of these later record covers
reflected a certain style designed to shock the adults (this is still true today).
Classical music really didn't try much in the way of overtly marketing their artists
for sex appeal until about the mid-eighties.
Certain graphic artists are associated with specific genres and eras of music
(e.g., David Stone Martin and his jazz album art of the 1950's and early 1960's,
the poster artists of the West Coast and their rock & roll airbrush art of the 1970's).
2) Clothing, hair styles, make-up, and print graphics can be a give-away to zeroing in
on a decade at the very least. Country & western genres tend toward the more
conservative styles, rock to more outre. Classical artists are harder to pin-point, though
hair and clothing styles help.
3) In general, LPs from ca. 1948-1955 are very "heavy", made of polystyrene with a
feel of the old 78 rpm shellac recordings. As technology progresses and the stylus and
tone arm became more efficient, the discs become lighter in weight.
4) The 10-inch LP fades from production around 1956 in favor of the standard 12-inch
format.
5) The words "Long Play" or "LP" tend to be featured very prominently on many
recordings from the 1950's to differentiate (and sell) them from the 78 rpm.
6) If the LP indicates it is mono., it is most-likely pre-1968, when stereo. became the
preferred and nearly exclusive standard. After 1968, most of the major labels were no
longer issuing new LPs in mono. format.
7) Look on the back ("verso") of the album cover. Sometimes albums advertised there
can give you a better idea of the general date of the item you have in hand.
8) Indications of phonogram dates are standard by 1976.
9) "Digitally remastered" appears on some LPs around the late 1970's and early
1980's, as this technology develops.
10) Remember, copyright dates apply to printed material (e.g., liner notes). Use them
as a guide to the date of recording/release, but be sure to place this information in
brackets in the 260 $c. E.g., c1956 = [1956]
11) When you are able to, use reference sources to help you out! Some pricing guides
give a good overview of when exactly certain labels were active (e.g., Neal Umphred's
Goldmine's Price Guide to Collectable Jazz Albums, 1949-1969. See bibliography).
---AACR2
1.4F7:
, [1971 or 1972]
, [1969?]
, [between 1956 and 1972]
, [ca. 1960]
, [197-]
, [197-?]
, [19--]
, [19--?]
one year or the other
probable date
use only for dates fewer than 20 years apart
approximate date
decade certain
probable decade
century certain
probable century
A Brief and Select Chronology of the LP
1931 - RCA introduces coarse groove discs of "Victrolac" that run at 33 1/3 rpm
"professional" speed, but fails to replace the popular 78 rpm consumer speed.
1933 - Articles begin to appear in the library literature on how to organize and catalog
collections of sound recordings.
1948 - On June 21, American Columbia Company publically introduces the first 12-inch
33 1/3 rpm micro-groove LP vinylite record with 23 minute per side capability,
developed by Goldmark in 1947. Among the first record labels to use this format are
Capitol, Columbia (CBS), Decca, and RCA. The older well-established companies have
already cornered the supply of famous performers and standard repertoire; post-1948
labels have to begin their businesses with non-standard repertoire by unknown
performers. Record stores convert to self-service bins. 10-inch LPs (same dimension as
the 78 rpm) also appear on the market, and are generally in the pop and folk genres (read:
shorter works).
(1949 - RCA Victor introduces 7-inch 45 rpm micro-groove vinylite record and player,
later records were made of polystyrene. These records do not play any longer than
conventional 78 rpm records; however, a market grows for them in the pop music genre.)
1952 - Library of Congress begins systematic cataloging of their sound recording
collections.
1954 - The number of record companies in America producing LPs has increased from
just eleven in 1948 to two-hundred. The "arrival" of rock and roll and the beginning of a
major pop culture in recorded sound later results in a massive LP sales explosion (ca.
1964).
1955 - American record companies cut prices of LP records; LP sales begin to take off.
Columbia Record Club becomes the first mail-order outfit for sound recordings.
1958 - After much speculation, stereo. discs are introduced by the major U.S. record
companies.
1960 - The 10-inch LP bows out of the picture. 78 rpm records are all but gone from the
sales floors.
1967 - AACR1 is published and includes a section on cataloging phonorecords, more of
an appendix really; music catalogers are not wholly impressed.
1969 - Mary Lou Little, Harvard's Music Librarian, opts for the computer approach to
solve her cataloging problems, and begins adapting the MARC II format for books
(published in 1968) for use with sound recordings and scores. Much discussion ensues in
the national music cataloging arena.
1970's - Academic libraries slowly begin purposefully collecting LPs to support the
growing realization that sound recordings are viable research materials. Still, nearly 60%
of all nationally-shared sound recordings' cataloging comes from public libraries, with
the majority representing the classical music genres.
1971 - The quadrophonic LP is introduced by CBS Records, followed later by Warner
Brothers Records. The quad. LP fails to catch the market, and is withdrawn ca. 1980.
1976 - Library of Congress, in cooperation with Harvard, the MARC Development
Office and MLA, develops the machine-readable cataloging (MARC) format for sound
recordings.
1978 - AACR2 is published and incorporates many of the suggestions from the music
library community. The sound recordings' cataloging chapter now includes much fuller
information.
1983 - CDs first hit the shelves, precipitating a decline in the sale of LPs. Libraries begin
receiving truck-loads of LP gifts from donors replacing their sound recording collections
with CDs. Library directors across the country see the need to hire thousands of music
catalogers to help provide access to these important materials (this last sentence is not as
true as it could be).
1993 - The sale of LPs has bottomed out, though has not totally vanished.
1996 - The LP begins to make a slight come-back in the music industry. Vinyl sales are
small but mighty.
Wendy Sistrunk
Music Catalog Librarian
University of Missouri--Kansas City