Oxford Records was a

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

active in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

from roughly 1906 until 1916. The label was produced for

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

by several labels, including Columbia and Albany Indestructible Cylinders for cylinders and Leeds & Catlin, Zon-O-Phone, and Columbia for discs. No recording activity was undertaken by Sears. All discs were single-sided.

History

In 1906, Sears introduced the Oxford disc to replace the earlier Harvard brand. These discs in the 11000 and 16000 series, were produced by Leeds & Catlin. The 1908 Sears catalog introduced 7-inch discs listed at 21 cents that were pressed by Columbia and numbered in the 7000 series. In 1909 10-inch discs from Zonophone, retailing at 30 cents, were introduced. Fall 1911 saw Sears return to Columbia for pressings. These later discs are the most commonly found. The brand was phased out in 1916 for the new Silvertone brand, although records with the Oxford label were still being shipped in late 1917. Recordings appearing on the Oxford label could be recorded anywhere from 1901 to 1916. The take number is important to dating the recording, particularly for Columbia pressings.

Cal Stewart Cal Stewart (b. 1856 Charlotte County, Virginia, d. December 7, 1919) was an American comedian and humorist who pioneered in vaudeville and early sound recordings. He is best remembered for his comic monologues in which he played "Uncle Josh ...

's "I'm Old But I'm Awfully Tough" (Oxford 22) first appeared on Columbia in 1901, but the issued take number of was probably recorded much later.

Repertoire

Oxford discs contain the same material as released by the producing company. For the most part the titles released were popular items that were deemed likely to sell over a long period of time. A few sides from Columbia's ethnic matrix series were also released. Artists are usually generic (i.e. "band", "banjo solo" "baritone") for the earlier pressings. These were the studio ensembles of the recording company and musicians commonly used by all record companies of the time such as

Vess Ossman Sylvester Louis "Vess" Ossman (August 21, 1868 – December 7, 1923) was a leading five-string banjoist and popular recording artist of the early 20th century. Biography Sylvester Louis Ossman was born in Hudson, New York, and made his firs ...

and Arthur Collins. Later Columbia pressings often gave artist credit when such artist was not under exclusive contract to Columbia at the time.

Notable artists appearing on Oxford

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

Henry Burr Henry Burr (January 15, 1882 – April 6, 1941) was a Canadian singer, radio performer and producer. He was born Harry Haley McClaskey and used Henry Burr as one of his many pseudonyms, in addition to Irving Gillette, Henry Gillette, Alfred Alex ...

* Arthur Collins *

Collins & Harlan Collins & Harlan, the team of American singers Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan, formed a popular comic duo between 1903 and 1926. They sang ragtime standards as well as what were known as "coon songs" – music sung by white performers in a bl ...

* Edward M. Favor *

George J. Gaskin George J. Gaskin (February 1863 – December 14, 1920) was one of the most popular singers in the United States during the 1890s and an early American recording artist. Biography Gaskin was born in Belfast, Ireland, but migrated to the United Sta ...

Byron G. Harlan Byron George Harlan (August 29, 1861 – September 11, 1936) was an American singer from Kansas, a comic minstrel singer and balladeer who often recorded with Arthur Collins. The two together were often billed as "Collins & Harlan". Solo rec ...

Ada Jones Ada Jane Jones (June 1, 1873 – May 2, 1922) was an English-American popular singer who made her first recordings in 1893 on Edison cylinders. She is among the earliest female singers to be recorded. Biography She was born in Lancashire, UK, ...

Bohumir Kryl Bohumir Kryl (May 3, 1875 – August 7, 1961) was a Czech-American financial executive and art collector who is most famous as a cornetist, bandleader, and pioneer recording artist, for both his solo work and as a leader of popular and Bohemian ...

Harry Macdonough John Scantlebury Macdonald (May 30, 1871 – September 26, 1931) was a Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most ...

* Billy Murray *

Charles A. Prince Charles Adams Prince (1869 – October 10, 1937) was an American conductor, bandleader, pianist and organist known for conducting the Columbia Orchestra and, later, Prince's Band and Orchestra.''Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound'', p. 860. He m ...

Peerless Quartet The Peerless Quartet was an American vocal group that recorded in the early years of the twentieth century. They formed to record for Columbia Records, where they were credited as the Columbia Quartet or Columbia Male Quartet. From about 1907, wh ...

* Steve Porter * Len Spencer * Frank C. Stanley *

Walter Van Brunt Walter Van Brunt (22 April 1892 – 11 April 1971) was an American tenor known initially for his recordings on Thomas Alva Edison's Blue Amberol Records and later for his role in a scandal involving a stage name and case of adultery. Biogr ...

Bert Williams Bert Williams (November 12, 1874 – March 4, 1922) was a Bahamian-born American entertainer, one of the pre-eminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He is credited as being ...

References

{{Authority control Record labels established in 1906 Defunct record labels of the United States Cylinder record producers Record labels disestablished in 1916 Record labels owned by Sears, Roebuck and Company American companies established in 1906

History

Repertoire

Notable artists appearing on Oxford

See also

References