About Phonographia
Since I was a little boy, I've been fascinated with the phonograph. Profits from my paper-route funded my first talking machines. My father and I would go to auctions and spend many hours waiting to bid on a morning-glory horned phonograph. We weren't very sophisticated buyers and unfortunately didn't pursue the rare machines. There was alot of serendipity to our collecting and sometimes other items (non-phonograph-related found at a garage sale or auction) seemed too good to pass up. I'm sure my mother always wondered what we'd be bringing home after one of our outings. But when the hunter-gathers returned home, it was usually with something connected with the phonograph. I'm lucky to have had parents who made the time and the room to support my hobby.
Through the years my interest in phonographs has taken some twists and turns, from phonographs (the machines) to toy phonographs to talking toys to less space demanding phonograph ephemera (postcards, advertisements, etc.). Cultural questions related to the phonograph and how it was marketed to the home have always been of particular interest to me. But consistently, if it has anything to do with the phonograph, it has caught my eye.
Phonographia was chosen as the name of this site because it's meant to include anything related to the phonograph. Think Memorabilia of the Phonograph.
The Phonograph engraved its history onto records. It was literally a revolution for sound, moving at different rpms but always revolving. But it has also left other footprints and it is those I have chosen to primarily document. Phonographia originated in 2001 as an internet site and initial goals were to document activities of "Friends of the Phonograph" and to generally have a place to organize some phonograph related items. Its a work-in-progress and in many ways I'd call it a scrapbook-blog of phonograph art and phonograph connections. I have used some images from Ebay auctions and some links to other sites so if anyone sees something that they feel has been misused, please let me know as my intent is to simply be a Friend of the Phonograph and tell its story from my perspective.
Doug Boilesen
Photo of an early version of my Phonographia Collection, c.1966 in my parents basement (Photo courtesy of Doug Keister)