Guide to the Bell Labs Early Stereo Collection ARS.0118

Finding aid prepared by Franz Kunst

Archive of Recorded Sound

Braun Music Center

541 Lasuen Mall

Stanford University

Stanford, California, 94305-3076

650-723-9312

soundarchive@stanford.edu

Descriptive Summary

Title: Bell Labs Early Stereo Collection

Dates: 1979-1980

Collection number: ARS.0118

Collection size: 1 box : 6 12" open reel tapes ; 3 LPs ; one metal part

Repository: Archive of Recorded Sound

Abstract: Material related to two 1979 Bell Telephone Laboratories albums titled "Early Hi-Fi ; Wide Range and Stereo Recordings Made by Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1930s - Leopold Stokowski Conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra, 1931-1932."

Language of Material: English

Access

Open for research; material must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Contact the Archive for assistance.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with repository. Publication and reproduction rights reside with the creators or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Head Librarian of the Archive of Recorded Sound.

Preferred Citation

Bell Labs Early Stereo Collection, ARS-0118. Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Sponsor

This finding aid was produced with generous financial support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Scope and Contents

Master dubs on open reel tape, commercially released LP pressings, and a metal part for the Bell Telephone Laboratories albums titled "Early Hi-Fi ; Wide Range and Stereo Recordings Made by Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1930s - Leopold Stokowski Conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra, 1931-1932."

History

The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski began performing live on NBC's radio network in 1929, but Stokowski was unhappy with the fidelity of these early broadcasts, and approached physicist Harvey Fletcher at Bell Laboratories seeking ways to improve the transmissions. Bell Labs had been involved with developing improved sound recording and reproduction since 1915, and was willing to record Stokowski and the orchestra among other test subjects, and so in in 1931 and 1932, one hundred experimental high fidelity, long playing, and stereophonic recordings of the Philadelphia Orchestra were produced. These recordings, being excerpted passages rather than full works, were experimental and not intended for commercial release at the time. However, over forty years later, engineer Ward Marston transferred the original metal stampers to tape, and in 1979 Bell Labs celebrated these early technological advances with a vinyl issue in two volumes. As part of this release, Stanford University hosted a special conference and received a commemorative box containing a metal part (of unknown origin, perhaps from the 1930s session, but more likely for one of the 1979 discs).

Indexing Terms

Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Philadelphia Orchestra.

Sound--Recording and reproducing

Box 1

1. Early Hi-Fi ; Wide Range and Stereo Recordings Made by Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1930s - Leopold Stokowski Conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra, 1931-1932. [Vol.1] BTL-7901 ; Vol.2 BTL-8001 1979

Physical Description: 3 12" vinyl discs

Scope and Contents

Two copies of volume 1, one signed by Arthur Keller, and one copy of volume 2.

Box 1

2. reel dubs from masters for Vol.2 LP

Physical Description: 4 12" open reel tapes

Scope and Contents

"Direct dubs of BTL masters used in making of the second volume of the BTL commemorative recordings of Stokowksi and the Philadelhpia Orchestra."

Box 1

3. special presentation box for Stanford 1980-05-20

Physical Description: 2 12" open reel tapes, 1 metal part

Scope and Contents

Commemorative box presented to Stanford University Libraries by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. Includes a metal disc "mother," two open reel tapes, and a program for a presentation at Stanford May 20, 1980, featuring original engineer Arthur C. Keller.