Welcome to the E-Discographer, an on-line journal dedicated to the study of pre-microgroove phonograph records. Knowing more about the records in our collections enhances the enjoyment derived from playing them, at least for most of us. A great, if unsubstantiated story about the performer or a mere guess regarding the participation of a legendary musician is sufficient for some. This journal is more demanding and the information presented here meets high standards for accuracy.

This e-publication is modelled after a fascinating little magazine called Record Research, published from 1955 through 1982 by Len Kunstadt and Bob Colton. A wealth of information about early recording artists and labels was squeezed into its photocopied pages. Best of all, it served as a forum where interested collectors could exchange details of ongoing research. Almost every collector has at least a couple of unusual discs and R/R was a means of bringing together the mass of details that could transform a tentative listing into an authoritative discography. It also served to validate one's decidedly out-of-step fascination with an obsolete medium.

It is hoped that our readers will be motivated to contribute substantive additions and corrections to the articles presented here. There are always details which elude the most meticulous researcher; test pressings of sessions undocumented in company files, alternate takes issued which were thought to have been rejected, and guest artists sitting in unannounced. The authors of the articles published or reprinted in the E-Discographer present them in the hope of stimulating interest in their respective topics. This may be an opportunity to jumpstart other research which has been languishing in a drawer somewhere.

Future issues will cover a wider variety of genres and devote more space to 1940's recordings, an era that has not attracted sufficient research energies. As time goes on there will also be more guides and finding aids for new researchers.

Most collectors of early phonograph records are not much given to research and never have been. Many of those who have assembled considerable information never publish beyond circulating photocopies among other collectors. It is certainly a daunting task to prepare a manuscript for publication and it is hoped that this on-line journal will serve as a less formal and more interactive vehicle for the exchange of discographic information. There will be some delays in answering mail as your editor will be attending the Association for Recorded Sound Collections meeting the week of May 29-June 4. So should you! Please address all correspondence to ddiehlusa@netscape.net