To: rolls@foxtail.com

This may be off topic, but Dave Kerr's mention of patriotic maple leaves
on Higel Solodant roll boxes led me to wonder how old the Maple Leaf is
as a symbol of Canada.

Much older than the current flag.  I have an Edison Diamond Disk record
from about 1920 with "O Canada" on one side and "The Maple Leaf Forever"
on the reverse.  So the current national anthem is also much older than
its official adoption, although the words of the several verses are
different.  I hope our Canadian readers can tell us just how far back
the song and the emblem go.

No relation to Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, I'm afraid.

Phonograph records aren't quite "mechanical music" but just like rolls
and disks and cylinders, they tell us a lot about national and cultural
histories.

Mike Knudsen