Columbia Records Being Digitized
Under contract from the Library of Congress, the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Library is digitizing 6,000 sides recorded by Columbia Records before 1925 for inclusion in the Library of Congress National Jukebox website and the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR) database.
Drawn initially from the UCSB Library’s vast holdings of early acoustical recordings, 6,000 recordings made by Columbia Records prior to 1925 are being digitized and will be linked to the discographic records. These include domestic Columbia issues such as Tin Pan Alley songs, operatic recordings, and instrumental and band recordings, as well as ethnic recordings for domestic distribution and recordings made by Columbia’s extensive foreign operations in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere.
A second and third phase of the digitization operation is being planned, with further digitization of Columbia discs as well as discs recorded by Okeh, Brunswick, Edison, and other companies.