Making Records in Scranton, Pennsylvania, circa 1940

Newly available for research at the NYPL Music Division: The Otto Hess Photographs, a collection particularly strong in its documentation of the New York City jazz scene from 1939 to 1941. A fine art photographer, Hess also captured subjects beyond jazz and the arts, including street scenes, nightclub interiors, and sporting events.

One folder contains approximately 30 images that Hess labeled "Varsity Records factory." This is noteworthy because photographs of the record manufacturing process are somewhat rare. Varsity Records was one of two labels that comprised the United States Record Company; Royale Records was the other. Eli Oberstein created the USRC in the summer of 1939, shortly after he left an executive position at RCA Victor. Varsity was considered a "budget" label, specializing in popular music and selling records for 35 cents each. Royale was more expensive, at 75 cents a record, and specialized in classical music.

Though the company headquarters was located in Manhattan, the shellac records for these two labels were pressed at the revamped facilities of the Scranton Button Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. These photos show various parts of the process: creating the master and stamper discs (including dipping them into multiple chemical baths), loading dry shellac powder into the rolling machine, slicing the molten shellac into square biscuits, pressing the records, and packaging the records.

Inside the engineering room… examining the master disc

Treating the master disc… polishing the stamper

Dry shellac process… pressing biscuits

Packaging

Oberstein cut corners for the Varsity label by reissuing published material from other companies, and using pseudonyms for the performers as a way to conceal the recordings’ origins. He was eventually able to gather some artists to record original material for Varsity, but his use of unlicensed, copyrighted material resulted in a number of lawsuits that ultimately caused bankruptcy for the USRC in 1940.

More extensive information about Oberstein’s career and business practices can be found in Alan Sutton’s 2014 book Eli Oberstein's United States Record Corporation: A History and Discography, 1939-1940, available in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound as *L 14-8170. Additionally, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound has a near-complete run of USRC’s new release bulletins.

Otto Hess’s photographs of the manufacturing process for Varsity Records are available for research in the Special Collections Reading Room at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, classmark JPB 17-12.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post with more details about Hess and his jazz photographs, written by one of the Music Division's volunteers!