

Welcome to page 5 of the Museum's 78's Record Collection.
Since our founding in 1979, the Delta Blues Museum has generously been given donations of thousands of 78s in every conceivable genre. Now, with a Preservation Grant from the Grammy Foundation, the Museum has been able to catalog and archive the 78s that belong in our Collection and begin to find homes for the thousands of other 78s we have been gifted with during the past 38 years.
As you continue to browse the Collection, we hope you will take time and listen because, as Willie Dixon said: "The Blues is the truth". You will indeed discover the truth in the purest form while listening to a 78 by John Lee Hooker, Bessie Smith, Howlin' Wolf, Mamie Smith, Muddy Waters, Clara Smith, Texas Alexander, Victoria Spivey, Eddie Boyd, The Hokum Boys, Leona Williams, and the many other artists in the collection.
Many thanks to the Grammy Foundation for their generous support in making this invaluable recorded resource available to the public once again.
Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 8645 (1942)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 23741 (1946)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 23669 (1946)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 8659 (1944)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 24725 (1949)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 24815 (1949)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 8638 (1942)
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V-discs was a joint effort between the US Government and various records companies to issue records to help boost the morale of the Armed Forces. It lasted from to 1941 to 1949 and featured every genre of music.
V-Disc 237B (1943)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 23630 (1946)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 23417 (1945)
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BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 408 (1953)
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BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 395 (1952-53)
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BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 459 (1956)
Listen Here
BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 459 (1956)
Listen Here
BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 451 (1952-53)
Listen Here
BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 416 (1953)
Listen Here
BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 430 (1955)
Listen Here
BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 380 (1952-53)
Listen Here
BB King was born on September 16, 1925 near Itta Bena, MS , after he moved to Memphis, he began a storied music career that lasted until his death in 2015. A master of guitar and vocals, his music is beloved worldwide.
RPM 386 (1952-53)
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Decca Records, today a member of UMG, started in England in 1929 founding an American branch in 1934. It was a major producer of blues records with artists ranging from Peetie Wheatstraw to Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Decca 14594 (1950) (Gospel)
No video/audio track available
Capitol Records was the first West Coast record label. Founded in 1942 in LA by singer/songwriter Johnny Mercer, It is still in business today as a subsidiary of UMG and still operating from the round building at Hollywood & Vine.
Capitol 10021 (1945)
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Imperial Records began in LA in 1947 and continued until 1963 when it was sold to Liberty, phased out in the early '70s, EMI revived it in 2006. Under A&R man Dave Bartholomew, it specialized in New Orleans' R&B.
Imperial 5478 (1957)
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Imperial Records began in LA in 1947 and continued until 1963 when it was sold to Liberty, phased out in the early '70s, EMI revived it in 2006. Under A&R man Dave Bartholomew, it specialized in New Orleans' R&B.
Imperial 5356 (1955)
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Specialty Records was a major LA independent blues/R&B/Gospel label begun in 1945 by Scott Rupe. It had a good reputation for treating its' artists well. It was sold to Fantasy in 1991, it is now with Concord Music Group.
Specialty 355 (1950)
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Columbia Records was formed in 1888 in Washington D.C. and is still, after a series of mergers and takeovers, the latest by Sony, a leading label. It was a prolific producer of blues 78s in the 1920s and '30s.
Columbia 14305-D (1927)
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Specialty Records was a major LA independent blues/R&B/Gospel label begun in 1945 by Scott Rupe. It had a good reputation for treating its' artists well. It was sold to Fantasy in 1991, it is now with Concord Music Group.
Specialty SP572 (1955)
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Specialty Records was a major LA independent blues/R&B/Gospel label begun in 1945 by Scott Rupe. It had a good reputation for treating its' artists well. It was sold to Fantasy in 1991, it is now with Concord Music Group.
Specialty 645 (1956)
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Checker records was founded in 1952 in Chicago as a subsidiary of Chess Records. Some of its' artists were Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II. Sold to GRT in 1969, it became defunct in1971.
Checker 817 (1955)
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Checker records was founded in 1952 in Chicago as a subsidiary of Chess Records. Some of its' artists were Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II. Sold to GRT in 1969, it became defunct in1971.
Checker 780 (1953)
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Checker records was founded in 1952 in Chicago as a subsidiary of Chess Records. Some of its' artists were Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II. Sold to GRT in 1969, it became defunct in1971.
Checker 833 (1955)
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Checker records was founded in 1952 in Chicago as a subsidiary of Chess Records. Some of its' artists were Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II. Sold to GRT in 1969, it became defunct in1971.
Checker 793 (1954)
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Trumpet Records was a Jackson, Mississippi independent label founded in 1951 by Lillian McMurry to record blues artists from the Delta and Gospel. Although it became defunct in 1956, its' influence on the blues was huge.
Trumpet 175 (1951)
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Gee Records was an independent New York label. It was a subsidiary of Tico & Rama Records. It began in 1953 until it became part of Roulette Records in 1961 and ceased production in 1962.
Gee GG1026 (1957) (R&B)
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