Name on Brown Wax Record Slip

[JPow]

I have a early Columbia brown wax cylinder with the label/slip glued onto the side of the box. Besides the song title, number, and performer, it also has the name "T. S. Fredericks" stamped on it.  See picture below

 

Would I be correct to assume that this was the name of the cylinder's original owner? Did he/she stamp this on it themselves, as an identifier? Or maybe the dealer stamped it on for them?

 

I've seen other names stamped onto these early slips,  just like this one,  but I've never read anything explaining the phenomenon. 

 

Thanks

Edited May 26, 2021 by JPow

[Analogous]

Josh,

 

This is a great question!    

 

You've already noticed that this slip is a product of printing and two stamps - one with title, catalog number and a letter; the other with S.T. Fredericks.   The latter is definitely not the owner, but what member of the Columbia organization is it?  I'd thought these were recordists - the person who "took" the original recording - as some of the names are known to us (e.g., Harry Spencer, Victor Emerson).  But, there are a lot of different names on these slips, and I see no purpose for the recordist getting credited.  My current guess (with nothing to support it) is that these are the people who duplicated the cylinders pantographically.  They were given a stack of stamped title slips and added their stamp to the slip before boxing a freshly cut copy.  In other words, this was a sort of quality control.  

 

The letter D may refer to the master (take) used for this pantographic run.  The pencil marks are also from the factory - again perhaps some sort of quality control - and, again, a mystery.

 

Maybe others have more knowledge about these.

 

Thanks.

 

John

[JPow]

Hi John. 

 

Re: "these are the people who duplicated the cylinders pantographically" 

 

Your current theory makes a lot of sense and I hadn't even considered that.  Thanks

 

I did a little internet sleuthing on who "S. T. Fredericks" may have been but came up empty.

 

However, I have another slip with the with a "S. M. Shequin" name stamped on it (see attached photograph).

 

The surname Shequin, as it turns out,  is fairly uncommon. I perused ancestry.com and found a handful of Shequins born in the mid to late 1800s. Some were in Vermont, some in Wisconsin, some in Connecticut, and a couple more in Washington State,  The only Sequin w/ an "S" first initial was a Sophia May SHEQUIN born in 1879.

Her info as it appears on ancestry.com

 

Birthdate date 1879 - city, New London, Connecticut, USA

Marriage -  Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

Residence -  city, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

Death  - Fairfield, Connecticut, USA

 

I also found her listed on findagrave.com (with her married name as Mullen). Her death is listed as Bridgeport, CT (1957)

 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147862405/sophia-may-mullen

 

The next piece to the puzzle is Columbia records. I found something that mentioned that Columbia moved its headquarters to Bridgeport, CT in 1897. Please correct this if its inaccurate.  If it IS true, then it would be reasonable to assume we found our "S. M. Shequin" a 19-yr-old young woman making her way in the world duplicating cylinders pantographically at Columbia headquarters in Bridgeport, CT (a few miles down the road from Fairfield) in 1898 before she tied the knot w/ James Frances Mullen.

 

Could be wrong but its an interesting and logical guess.  

Edited May 27, 2021 by JPow

[Analogous]

Josh,

 

Congratulations!  You have connected more dots.  In 1896, Columbia, based in Washington, D.C. started to plan their 1897 move to NYC.  They set up studios in Manhattan and started building the factory in Bridgeport that pressed discs until the 1960s.  My guess is that this cylinder was made later than 1897, but whenever it was produced, I have little doubt that S.M. Shequin IS Sophia May and that she pantographed this copy.  

 

Your sleuthing not only confirms my suspicion about these rubber stamped names.  It also indicates this job was assigned to women.  Given the filth associated with record cutting, I've wondered if this was a job reserved for men.  Perhaps they though women better suited for the precision of the operation.

 

Bravo for providing two more puzzle pieces.

 

John

[Neilvanstem]

Interesting topic and informative. I quickly looked a few brown wax cylinders I have and found one slip with a name at the top. So now I would be correct in thinking that is someone's name?  M. Angevine

Edited June 3, 2021 by Neilvanstem

[JPow]

That's right, Neil.

 

M. Angevine was likely employed by Columbia to duplicate the cylinders pantographically.  As John said, "They were given a stack of stamped title slips and added their stamp to the slip before boxing a freshly cut copy.  In other words, this was a sort of quality control."