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