American Record Company
1904-1906
The American Record Company was founded in 1904 by John O. Prescott (brother of Frederick M. Prescott of the International Talking Machine Company, the Berlin-based maker of Odeon Records) and the team of Ellsworth A. Hawthorne and Horace Sheble (former Edison agents and brown wax cylinder makers in the 1890s who were blacklisted and afterwards made phonograph parts under their eponymous Manufacturing Company). The Berliner (Victor) and Jones (Columbia) patents on lateral-cut sound recording were still in effect but the Company pressed forward for two years until it was shut down by the courts. In the meantime, it offered seven-inch, ten-inch and 10-3/4" discs made of a blue shellac dubbed "Empedite" touted as more durable although it really wasn't. Black shellac appeared towards the end of their run. The 10-3/4" size was the metric European standard but was replaced by the 10" towards the end as well. One patent that the Prescotts did have some control over though was in double-sided records, which they made in limited amounts. The logo was inspired by a friend of Hawthorne's who said in a 1904 interview with "The Music Trade Review" that he escorted a group of Native Americans to the St. Louis Exposition and noticed their fascination with the phonograph. The discs were thus nicknamed "Indian Records". The company did pioneer in the first authentic recordings of Hawaiian music by native artists. Columbia brought suit in the name of their patent and eventually won in appeal by January 1907, forcing the Company to close. However, the Hawthorne and Sheble Manufacturing Company was kept as a separate entity and survived to re-issue Columbia matrices under the "Star Record" label for a sort time afterwards until Victor had that shut down in 1909.
Encoded Speed: 192 Kbps
Seven-Inch Discs

Beyond the Gates of Paradise

Baritone (Anonymous)

American Record Company 52

Matrix# 75

Spring 1904-December 1905

New York, New York

Note: Uneven playing surface towards end.

10-3/4-Inch Discs

The Yankee Doodle Boy

Billy Murray (self-announced)

American Record Company 031086

Matrix# 266

released ca. May-July 1905

New York, New York

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