Matt Caulfield asked [111127 MMDigest], "What part did Mylar play
in Aeolian's production process?"

The earliest dates I've seen on any Aeolian-American Corp. masters were
in the early 1960s.  Some earlier ones could turn up as I complete the
inspection process.  Aeolian-American Corp. used Mylar for the 'working
copies' of the original master-grade paper 2:1 masters to routinely
operate the perforators.

Mylar has proved to be nearly indestructible and I am still able to
play these directly on a player piano since they are 11.25" wide and
are a 1:1 performance, identical to the production rolls.  There are
sprocket holes near each edge but they do not trigger any notes on an
88 note player piano.  It's still a good idea to keep Mylar out of
direct sunlight.

Pat DeWitt asked, "Is there any chance that new rolls will be
produced from these masters, or is this just an effort to catalog the
roll titles?"

My first priority is to publish a complete catalog but will do archival
scans of the library.  Keystone Music Rolls is interested in reissuing
some of the Aeolian titles.

Larry Doe