Cataloging a Roll Collection
By Robbie Rhodes
Dave Miller inquired (MMDigest 970303):
1. What do people use their catalog for?
I use it to confirm that _somewhere_ at home I have given roll, and also as an inventory of my collection for insurance purposes.
2. What fields are most useful?
accession_number -- Your own inventory number
scale -- the player system (the "scale") which the roll was made for:
88-note, Recordo, T98, Seeburg "X", etc.;
physical_condition -- establishes the replacement value
box_condition --
recut? -- "yes" indicates the punching is probably inferior
location --
loaned_to --
borrowed_from --
publisher -- Who created (punched) the roll in the collection?
* number_set --
* number --
* label -- helps to identify the edition
* These fields are linked to the data base rollography, which gives the rest of the information.
"Number Set" is critical. For example, roll number "O-105A" is in a number set created by Play-Rite to identify 5-tune rolls mounted on standard spools and flanges like 88-note rolls. The music was originally from 10-tune coin-op music rolls.
Song titles are notorious for spelling errors, and I have another auxiliary data base available to verify the "standard" title, which is usually the title appearing in the copyright registration.
Here is an example:
accession number -- 1234
scale -- Universal Nickelodeon (circa 1978)
physical_condition -- good
box_condition -- good
recut? -- yes (Play-Rite copy of Operators roll)
publisher -- Play-Rite, for Universal Piano Co., L.A.
number_set -- Play-Rite 5-tune O-rolls
number -- O-105A
label -- Play-Rite brown (box has hand-written substitute)
location -- storage box "Karl's Rolls #4"
owner -- Karl Petersen
loaned_to --
3. What fields are in the rollographies?
The book rollographies of the rolls produced by QRS, Ampico, Duo-Art and Welte have data from the catalogs and bulletins of the era. My computer data base scheme adds other fields to rectify confusion and errors (different performances under the same roll number, etc.), and to help identify different editions which aren't defined otherwise.
These are the fields in my data base of Welte music rolls:
scale T100 (Red), T98 (Green), Licensee (American)
number_set Poughkeepsie, Freiburg, London, New York, DeLuxe
number catalog number
price price code letter (or price on box)
artist
composer
title
alt_title alternate title, perhaps in another language
ed_date date of release of this edition (not the production date)
label brown, purple, black (related to number set & date)
data_from The source of the data in this record (book, collector, etc.)
comments
4. Are any roll catalogs on the 'Net?
Not that I know of. The existent data has been assembled by private collectors and, except for the books noted above, is not published. Very little data is available in computer files.
My data base of Welte-system rolls is experimental, with only about ten percent of the ultimate data. The raw data for my development work was provided to me by two private collectors. Publication of a complete rollography as a public resource will require the cooperation of the people who assembled the raw data. I hope this is possible someday.
Robbie Rhodes |
(Message sent Wed 5 Mar 1997, 02:18:36 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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