The Randy Riddle Phonodisc Collection includes three series: Commercially-released Records, Radio programs, and Non-radio programs. The Commercially-released Records series consists of thirty-four 12 inch (78 rpm) gramophone records and one 45 rpm record, most of which were marketed to Black audiences as "race" records. Each includes two songs, one per side, by an artist. Most of the records are in good or excellent condition. Artists represented in this collection are: Emitt Slay Trio, Bert Williams, Moran and Mack, The Orioles, Billy Wright, The Couplings, Bob Howard and his Boys, The Midnighters, Jimmy Bowen with the Rhythm Orchids, The Clovers, Chuck Miller, Miles Davis and his Orchestra, The Original Casuals featuring Gary Mears, Eunice Davis with Orchestra, Ivory Joe Hunter, Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, Howlin Wolf, Varetta Dillard, Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra, Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five, Carson Robinson, Young Jessie, Chuck Webb and his Orchestra, Socko Underwood, Brownie McGhee, and Bull Moose Jackson and his Buffalo Bearcats. One disc, by Johnny Rebel, is a white supremacist recording of hate speech supporting the Ku Klux Klan.
The Commercially-Released Records series has not been converted to a digital format, meaning that there are no use copies available at this time. Use copies must be made before researchers can access this material. Contact the Rubenstein Library with questions.
The Radio programs series includes both 12-inch, 16-inch, and 17-inch transcription discs, on carriers including aluminum lacquer, shellac, and vinyl. Programs include recordings of both original on-air broadcasts as well as rebroadcasts by organizations such as the Armed Forces Radio Service. Frequently, the discs include only excerpts or pieces of a program, and program runs are not complete (many include only one or two episodes). Titles in the collection are: Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen (stamper discs), Aladdin Lamp, Alka Seltzer - Vass Family/Hoosier Hot Shots, American Cancer Society Fund Drive, American Family Robinson, American Radio Newsreel, America's Famous Fathers, Any Bonds Tonight and Americans at Work, Armed Forces Radio Service: Supper Club, Battle at Thunderblow, Bea Kalmus, Behind the Scenes in Hollywood, Billie Burke Show, Calling All Cars, Canary Pet Show, Choose a Song Partner, Christmas Seals Campaign, Clif and Lolly, the Nuts of Harmony, Coke Club, Coleman Cox, Columbia demonstration record, Curtis H. Springer for Acidine, D-U-Z Does Everything promotional record, Dwight Eisenhower the Grass Roots Boy, FBI in Peace and War, Fraternal Order of Eagles Speech, Gillium and Atterbury/The Two Daffydils, Gleason and Armstrong, Globe Theatre, Grady Cole and the Johnson Family Singers/Douglas MacArthur Speech, Harlem Hospitality Club, Hearts in Harmony Prevue, It's Time to Smile, Lest We Forget, Light Up and Listen Club, Louie's Hungry Five, Mad Hatterfields, March of Dimes Campaign, Mercury Theater on the Air - War of the Worlds, Monticello Party Line, NBC promotional disc - Introduction to Listen Magazine, NBC promotional record - Good New Summertime, Ollendorf Watch Makers, Pick and Pat, Plantation Echoes, Police Reporter, Ports of Call, Red Horse Ranch, Reno Rides the Range, Sally in Hollywoodland, Skinner's Romancers, Southland Echoes, Suspense - the Lost Special, Tandy Mackenzie and His Hawaiian Music, This is the Blue Network, Twenty Questions, Uncle Remus, Union Leader Tobacco, Weird Tales, When a Girl Marries, Witch's Tale, Works Progress Administration Presents, WREN Lacquers, and Your Home Front Reporter. Other programs include discs associated with the 1933 Century of Progress International Exposition and the Townsend Plan, and one laserdisc, the Sears 1981 Summer Tele-Shop Catalog.
The Radio Programs series has digital use copies available for the bulk of the items, including high-resolution scans of some records' labels. Original transcription discs are CLOSED to use. Digital use copies are indicated in the item lists for each program, as a digital "SET," and may be requested using the Request button on the collection guide page.
The Non-radio programs series includes narration phonodiscs for use in the 1933 Century of Progress International Exhibition, phonodiscs accompanying information on the Townsend Plan, and a digital version of the Sears Roebuck catalog on laserdisc.
