Founded circa 1916, Imperial was acquired by QRS late in 1922, who continued using the old Imperial labels for songs by QRS artists.  The art design of the red and black label was used into the 1930s.  See QRS.

Instrumental rolls began with '5' and word rolls generally were prefixed with a '9'.  So the earliest word rolls were numbered 900-999, 9100-9999, 91000-...  The latest roll seen is 91370, issued in late 1921.  Expression rolls began with '6'.

The primary artist and arranger was Charley Straight.  Roy Bargy worked at Imperial beginning in December 1919 through December 1921.  William Hartman (W.H.) was a staff arranger of marches.  McNair Ilgenfritz was responsible for applying the Recordo system codes to the Imperial Automatic Electric expression rolls.  Artists who regularly visited to record included Clarence Jones (whom Bargy said was his favorite pianist), Jack Clyde (the name was later used as a pseudonym) and band leader and composer Al Eldridge.  Other visiting artists were Lewis J. Fuiks (before he took the name "Victor Arden") and Zema Randale.

Two distinct label styles were used interchangably, it seems.  The bold red and black label with the round design in the upper left corner was also used by QRS after they bought Imperial.