Collector Records was founded in 1970 by

Joe Glazer Joe Glazer (June 19, 1918 – September 19, 2006), closely associated with labor unions and often referred to as "labor's troubadour," was an American folk musician who recorded more than thirty albums over the course of his career. Early l ...

, an American folk singer. Glazer is known as “labor’s troubador” and he started the label to distribute albums of his own interpretations and compositions of American labor songs. Working with an organization called the

Great Labor Arts Exchange The Great Labor Arts Exchange is an annual arts festival in Silver Spring, Maryland, which celebrates the labor history of the United States as well as preserves, advances and promotes the culture of the American labor movement. In June 1979, Joe ...

, Glazer also released recordings of other performers in the modern U.S. labor movement. The label was donated to the

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

in 2005.

References

Smithsonian Collector Records CollectionSmithsonian Online Virtual Archives
Record labels established in 1970 American record labels {{US-record-label-stub