I’m again wrestling with what to do with some of items my parents left behind when they died.
One of the “treasures” that my mother saved through her long life was this box of vintage 78 RPM records, mostly recordings of Hawaiian entertainers. I haven’t counted them, but I think there are probably around 40 records. These are old, thick 78s. I don’t know how to assess their condition.
With the renewed interest in records, does anyone collect such things? Can I connect them to a good home?
There are several record labels, including 49th State, Bell Records, Decca, and a few that have a label with a flower lei that simply credit “Advertiser Publishing Co. Ltd.”
One record, with a somewhat worn record jacket, features the Kauai Canoe and Racing Association Choir, and was privately produced for the group. It is pitched as “Musical Memories of your Stay on Kauai.” Date unknown.
Bell Records
Advertiser Publishing Co.
And there are at least ten records featuring Augie Goupil and his Royal Tahitians, a group which became popular in the U.S. in the 1930s.
Decca Records put out several sets of Goupil’s music in 1939, one of which included this small booklet about the music and the artist.
My mother met Goupil in 1938, before she was married, and since she saved these records until her death, I have to assume that they had some kind of relationship, although I don’t recall her ever elaborating.
As an aside…She did describe a family connection to Goupil in an essay about her grandfather, Robert William Cathcart. It’s interesting to see threads of history coming together in this story.
She wrote:
There were quite a few British subjects living in Honolulu when Robert W. Cathcart arrived in 1881, so it didn’t take him long to meet others from the British Isles. One with whom he became friendly was Major Hills, a former British army officer who had lived in Tahiti where he married a Tahitian woman. The Hills lived in the Waikiki area where they operated a soft-drink bottling company on Kalakaua Avenue mauka of what is now Kapiolani Boulevard. They called their premises “Sunny South” where every Sunday a group of their associates gathered for a day of pleasant relaxation. There were friends and relatives, many formerly of Tahiti, and visiting seamen from ships out of the South Seas, so conversation often centered on Tahiti. Cathcart because one of the Sunday regulars and it was there amidst reminiscences of that south sea island that he became obsessed with a desire to visit that fabulous land. The obsession held him in its grip until he finally realized the dream 20 years later.
At “Sunny South” Cathcart formed a close friendship with Captain Chapman, a sea captain who operated sailing vessels between Tahiti and Hawaii. The captain’s home was in Tahiti where his wife and children lived. My family tale relates that the captain was influenced by Cathcart to bring his two daughters to Honolulu to be educated at St. Andrews Priory. I have a lingering memory of having heard that after the two daughters returned to Tahiti, one married a Mr. Hall and was the mother of John Hall, who enjoyed a somewhat short career as a handsome movie star in Hollywood. The other married a French-Tahitian and was the mother of Augie Goupil, a popular Hollywood musician and Polynesian dancer in the 1930’s and 1940’s. I met Augie in California in 1938 a few years before he died.”
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
For about 40.00 you can get a usb turntable that can digitize those classic gems so they can be easily shared and enjoyed. Good luck!
Even if I manage to digitize them, and I imagine this will be trickier than it seems, I still have the problem–what to do with the records themselves?
As Steve said — digitize (for your own use and/or to give to friends that ask you politely), photograph them, write a story about them for your own use, or to go with the records when you donate them to a museum that will appreciate them, care for them and periodically feature them.
I just did a quick check on ebay. Many 78s are available there, and many already have found buyers. A five-record set of records in very good condition by Augie Goupil and his Royal Tahitians sold for $24.00 plus $7.37 shipping.
Some of those ebay sellers are based in Hawaii. You could contact them through ebay and find someone to take them off your hands.
One seller states that he play grades the 78s that he offers for sale using the following grading system:
N- = like new
E+ = a virtually perfect copy with only minor signs of having been played
E = very slight signs of wear, maybe some minor scuffing and/or light scratches but a clean copy with little groove wear
E- = slightly above average copy, some groove wear and minor blemishes but a very decent copy
VG+ = an average copy, signs of use, some groove wear but still a decent copy
VG = wear, scuffing, light scratches but a very playable copy
VG- getting scary!…will play but is quite worn
G+ = a playable copy but very very worn
G = plays through
G- = wall hanger
P = once might have been a phonograph record
Bishop Museum? The Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame? DeSoto Brown lifetime collector and Hawaiian historian who has the perfect job for someone with a passion for preserving the past: he is the Collections Manager at the Bishop Museum Archives. Descended from famous 19th century Hawaiian historian and writer John Papa I’i, DeSoto surrounds himself with personal and political possessions from Hawaiian Ali’i, as well as stacks of other materials representing Hawaii’s cultural and natural history
You might might contact Harry b. Soria Jr., who with his father have collected such records and actually play them on a radio show called Territorial Airwaves or something like that. I often have the program on the radio. If you have something they don’t already have they might acquire them from you.
Maybe give them to the State Archives.
There’s a website called territorialairwaves.com that plays vintage recordings maybe make a deal with them to record them for you and give them the records. Or donate/sell to Bishop Museum or Mountain Apple records. I’m sure there is historical interest in them. I read an article at BBC there is money to be had in vintage records, maybe research it more, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Your buddy at Antique Alley? On consignment? I assume the object is not to make money, but presumably a discerning customer might be a good or appreciative caretaker?
DeSoto Brown and the Bishop Museum, although the museum seems to be dicey recently as to whether it values its collections. Hamilton Library at UH might be a home. I am not sure if the Creative Media center at UH West Oahu actually exists but they have been making noise about preserving similar material.
contact Peter Shirts, music librarian at UHManoa. if they aren’t in the 78s collection they may want to take them. see http://digicoll.manoa.hawaii.edu/music
Hungry Ear records. University. Was in Kailua for years.
KTUH
I wonder if Kaua’i Historical Society would be interested?
Contact the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame or Bishop Museum or Hamilton Library for the best home. And reward yourself with taxable donation deduction!
Ian, IMHO this is the place to donate them:
http://arcmusic.org/support/donate-materials/