RARE BOOKER T WASHINGTON COMPROMISE SPEECH BOOTLEG TEST PRESSING 10" 78 RPM VG+

$

51

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BOOKER T. WASHINGTON - "THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION COMPROMISE SPEECH"

10" 78 RPM VINYL RECORD

In 1895, Booker T. Washington gave what later came to be known as the Atlanta Compromise speech before the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. His address was one of the most important and influential speeches in American history, guiding African-American resistance to white discrimination and establishing Washington as one of the leading black spokesmen in America. Washington’s speech stressed accommodation rather than resistance to the racist order under which Southern African Americans lived. -- (historymatters.gmu.edu)

This is known as "THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION COMPROMISE SPEECH."  Washington's title was "CAST DOWN YOUR BUCKET."

Eleven years after he made the Atlanta speech, Washington recorded portions of it in a Columbia Phonograph Company studio. The recording date is known - December 5, 1906* - but the location is not. It is also unclear why Washington recorded the speech. Tim Brooks, a historian of recorded sound, speculates the cylinder may have been made for fund-raising or simply as a family heirloom. It is the only known recording of Washington's voice.  The recording is only three minutes and twenty-nine seconds long and captures roughly a third of the speech. The maximum length of a cylinder recording was about four minutes.  Washington abridges his speech by dropping the fifth paragraph. The recording ends after the sixth paragraph. It is possible that Washington continued the address on additional cylinders that have not survived . . . -- (americanradioworks.publicradio.org)

*There is disagreement about the year the recording was made; many references place it in 1903.  Some place it in 1904, others, 1905. 

Now on with the story of this record, as told by mainspringpress.com (I abridged the article):

In October 1960, a disgruntled Columbia employee (who we’ll call “X”) contacted Bill Moran to alert him that Columbia was house-cleaning its plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was planning to scrap many of its masters.  The files had recently been placed off-limits to outsiders and employees other than Helene Chmura, the company librarian. X disclosed that the master-scrapping was already under way: The metal parts were being hauled out in bucket loaders, ground up, and sold to a recycler by the ton.

X’s formal recommendation that some of this material be preserved was ignored by management, so in late October 1960 he sent a list of endangered masters to Moran, with the suggestion that Moran ask Stanford University to intervene. In the meantime, X let it be known that he could supply Moran with custom, unauthorized pressings of virtually anything in the vaults, adding that he was already doing so for some Columbia employees. The Columbia pressings that X initially supplied Moran were of unpublished or extremely rare early operatic recordings.  However, Moran's want-list soon expanded to include political speeches from the Nation’s Forum series, (and) rare personal recordings by the likes of Irving Berlin and Booker T. Washington . . .

And finally, one last word from mainspringpress:

True test pressings are just that — Pressings made in very small quantities (often just a copy or two), usually within a few days or weeks of recording, that were intended for the companies’ and artists’ use in evaluating a recording’s suitability for release. The modern re-pressings discussed here were never intended or used as tests. They were produced illicitly and in some quantity, decades after the recordings were made, specifically for collectors.

Many sites I researched have mp3's of the recording, and transcriptions of the entire speech.  I saw no actual "re-pressing" for sale anywhere.

The record has some scuffs and scratches.  Surface noise is no higher than would be expected -- Washington's words are clear.  I did hear some ticks.  I put it in a Columbia sleeve that has no tears or splits.

The "label" for this record is on the reverse side from the grooves.  Booker T. Washington is written in pencil.  The rest, in ink, is gibberish.  Except for, perhaps, an M (for Moran?)

NOTE:  I DONT GRADE LABELS -- see pictures for that information.  I use the eBay record grading system when listing LP'Ss, which is mostly based on visual observation of the vinyl.  It's only distracting surface noise, as well as ticks, pops, clicks or jumps, that may affect grading.    

ALL THE RECORDS I LIST COME FROM ONE COLLECTION, THAT OF JAMES M. KENNEY OF NEW WINDSOR, MARYLAND.  HE WAS ONE OF THE EAST COAST'S LARGEST AUDIO AND ELECTRONICS COLLECTORS.

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