78rpm FAQ

Frequently asked questions from the new collectors

this page first published by John Wright, 13 Feb 1999
last update 2 April 2006vintage@jabw.demon.co.uk

FAQ 3

What's a good way to catalogue a 78 collection?

You can start with bits of paper, cut into Index Cards 3" x 5", about 10 lines to write information. I have my whole collection indexed that way, and then I cross-referenced by having a separte card for each artiste, separate card for each song etc., so I can find anything. All that can also be done on your PC.
The main index card design can look like this:

HIS MASTER'S VOICEB.6245
Love Is The Sweetest ThingOB3196-2
(Noble)vocal: Al Bowlly8/9/32
I'll Do My Best To Make You HappyOB3195-2
(Noble)vocal: Al Bowlly8/9/32
RAY NOBLE AND HIS NEW MAYFAIR DANCE ORCHESTRA

and looking at my index card for Love Is The Sweetest Thing I see that I have four recordings:

LOVE IS THE SWEETEST THING

HMV B.6245, Decca F.3194, Decca F.3253, Eclipse 310

I can then look up the four index cards to see who plays/sings etc etc. Obviously having all this data on a computer would speed up searches.

My RAY NOBLE index card shows that I have 54 of his 78's !

There is software available for computer cataloguing of records, but a lot of people make their own 'databases' to suit their collection. This is because not all records come in the same format so some of the commercial software doesn't work well, and might not allow you to list all the information you want.
With 78's most of them are one artist, two-sided, only two songs, but there are a lot of 78's that are two sided, but have two songs or even a medley on EACH side, feature 2 different artistes or sometimes 4 artistes, two singers etc etc. Some software doesn't cope with the variations so collectors usually do their own thing.
It depends what you want. The simplest catalogue will just list all the record labels and cat nos. that you have. A full database of your collection will have all known information of each side, with the label, cat no., side A or B, band, singer, date, song titles, composers, featured soloists or instrumentalists, condition, price/value etc etc.
If you don't feel up to doing your own database : Collectors commonly use Microsoft Works or Microsoft Access. If you have either of these you can set up 'fields' for data, e.g. fields for record label, cat no., song title(s), artistes, vocalists, featured soloist(s) (i.e. trumpeter, pianist), date of recording, composers, pseudonyms ('real name' of artiste etc).
Once you have your lists and fields usually the software allows you to search for a song or artiste, creates a form (like an index card) which shows all the information on each recording, and you can print a report on anything. I've been doing this with Microsoft Works, and it does work. For example I can print as a report a list of all the songs I have sung by Bing Crosby, or all the recordings that feature Louis Armstrong.
Microsoft Access is a more advanced software but it does the same. Of course if you have hundreds of records in your collection then it takes many hours to type in all the information from your collection. I have a long way to go before I get mine all loaded, but I've done a bit and shown that Micrososft Works does work.
For a good software program try Primasoft's Music Organizer. Primasoft offers Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 versions. According to ZDNET:
"PrimaSoft Music Organizer is a complete database system for your music collection. It simulates a spiral notebook, complete with letter tabs. You can input an unlimited number of records and sort them in a variety of ways. There are 13 standard data fields, six custom fields, a notes field, and a graphics field that accepts a scanned image. Many of the fields offer pull-down picklists. Features include import/export capabilities (limited to text and .dbf files), flexible filters, printing and reporting functions, and export to HTML with a wizard interface. Both colours and font can be set to your liking. PrimaSoft Music Organizer is easy to use and very well documented. This shareware product ($43) can found at http://hotfiles.zdnet.com then search for PrimaSoft Music Orgainizer Using the custom fields you can create places for Side A Title, Side A Artist, Side B Title, and Side B Artist etc."

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