Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

World War 2, Home Front Technology Context - 78 RPM Record

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Overview

Contextual object to introduce World War 2 Gallery - 78 RPM Record

Historical information

Any flat disc record, made between about 1898 and the late 1950s and playing at a speed around 78 revolutions per minute is called a "78" by collectors. 78s hold about five minutes of music. Generally, 78s are made of a brittle material which uses a shellac resin. If dropped, the record would likely shatter.
78s came in a variety of sizes, the most common being 10 inch (25 cm) and 12 inch (30 cm) diameter, and these were originally sold in either paper or card covers, generally with a circular cutout allowing the record label to be seen. Relatively limited information is provided by the items themselves due to the label size.
"Record albums" were originally booklets containing collections of multiple disc records of related material, the name being related to photograph albums or scrap albums.
His Master’s Voice and Decca were major producers of 78s. Al Jolson and Donald Peers were popular artists of the era.
It was not until the LP era that an entire album of material could be included on a single record.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-54-536

Contextual Information

This object is in the Entrance of the World War 2 Gallery at the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia.

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

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