- Radio and Broadcasting Museums: Web-based and Brick and Mortar
- Radio and Broadcasting Library Collections: Web-based and Brick and Mortar
- Radio and Broadcasting Government Resources: Domestic and International
- Advertisers and Manufacturers from the Golden Age: An Often Overlooked Resource
- Radio Station and Network Archives: Domestic and International
- A Copyright Research Survival Kit from The Government and Academia
(See Sidebars for More Provenance and Education Resources)
Introduction
Whether you collect Golden Age Radio ephemera, recordings, radios, transcriptions, or premiums, researching The Golden Age of Radio era will occupy a great deal of your time. Provenances, especially, are the key element to any protocols a collector must employ to determine the details of a Golden Age Radio Series or recording. This section will attempt to provide you with as many resources as we can compile to assist you with your research projects. We welcome any and all suggestions to help expand this section to the benefit of all.
There are more sources of research materials and than most of us can imagine, but for the most part they'll fall into a few common categories. Some you'll have already considered or employed, and some may surprise you. Here's some of the more obvious places to start your research:
- Brick and Mortar Libraries
- Colleges and Universities
- Historical Societies
- Museums
- Book Stores
Here's some you may or may not have considered:
- The Internet
- Governmental Agencies
- Advertisers from The Golden Age of Radio
- Radio Collecting Societies and Clubs
- Specialized Radio Museums
- Presidential Libraries of the Era
- Individual Collectors
- Radio Scripts
- Newspaper 'morgues' in virtually any major city
The Internet is one of the fastest growing resources for researching all manner of nostalgia, ephemera, antiques, and both preservation and restoration activities. We hope to assemble an extensive list of Internet Resources applicable to every facet of The Golden Age Radio Collecting hobby. You're welcome -- and encouraged -- to both share and contribute to this growing list of active resources.
If you're on a high-speed internet connection you'll be in a better position to pursue research on the internet, but if you're still on a dial-up telephone modem connection, this list of links will save you hours of time, pinpointing the resources you find most helpful.


- The Antique Wireless Association Museum (1952 - present)
The Antique Wireless Association Museum
Edward Gable, Curator
187 Lighthouse Road
Hilton, New York 14468
Phone: (585) 392-3088
egable@rochester.rr.com
- The Radio History Society's Radio - Television Museum (1999 - present)
RHS Radio - Television Museum
2608 Mitchellville Rd
Bowie, Maryland
Phone: (301) 390-1020
- The American Museum of Radio and Electricity (1985 - present)
The American Museum of Radio and Electricity
1312 Bay Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
Phone: (360) 738.3886
FAX: 360.738.3472
- The Museum of Radio and Technology (1985 - present)
The Museum of Radio and Technology
1640 Florence Ave
Huntington WV 25701
Phone: (304) 525-8890
- The Shortwave Radio Listener's QSL Card Museum
What are QSL Cards? Beginning in 1912, a system of universal codes were developed for early amateur radio transmissions, to allow radio station operators a language-neutral means of confirming or communicating elements of their transmissions. Here's a summary of the "Q" codes commonly employed:
Code
|
Meaning |
Sample use |
"Q" Codes commonly used in amateur radio practice
QRL
|
Is this frequency busy? |
Used almost exclusively with Morse code |
QRM
|
Man-made interference |
There's another QSO up 2 kHz that's causing you a lot of QRM |
QRN
|
Static crashes |
The band is noisy today; I'm hearing a lot of QRN |
QRO
|
Increase transmitting power |
I need to QRO when propagation is poor. |
QRP
|
Low(er your) transmitting power |
I'm using a QRP transmitter here, running only 3 watts |
QRS
|
Send your Morse code more slowly |
Please QRS, I'm new to Morse code |
QRT
|
Stop sending |
I've enjoyed talking to you, but I have to QRT for dinner now |
QRV
|
Ready to receive |
Will you be QRV in the upcoming contest? |
QRX
|
Hang on a minute, I'll be right back |
Please QRX one |
QRZ
|
Who is calling me? |
QRZ? I hear someone calling, but you're very weak |
QSB
|
Fading of signal |
I'm hearing a lot of QSB on your signal |
QSL
|
Acknowledge receipt |
I QSL your last transmission |
QSO
|
A conversation with another ham |
Thanks very much for the QSO |
QSY
|
Change frequency |
Let's QSY up 5 kilohertz |
QTH
|
Location |
My QTH is South Park, Colorado |
QTR
|
Exact time |
QTR is 2000 Z |
In order to prove or ensure that a transmission was received, the receiving party would send the transmitting party a 'QSL Card' acknoledging the transmission. Early radio networks utilized QSL cards as a means of determining their signal strength -- and advertiser's reach -- to the surrounding communities, providing promotional incentives on the QSL Card itself, to encourage literners in the areas being canvassed to return them to the transmitting station. They could then use the count of the resulting received QSL cards to 'sell' their 'advertising power and reach' to potential advertisers. Many Golden Age Radio Collectors have extensive collections of QSL Cards dating back as many as 90 years.
- The Telephone Museum of Gridley Illinois (2000 - present)
The Telephone Museum Foundation of Gridley
318 N. Center Street
Gridley, Illinois 61744
Phone: (309) 747-3177
- The Bell System Memorial Online Museum (1997 - present)
The Bell System Memorial Website
David Massey
2853 Spicewood Lane
Kennesaw,GA,US 30152
Phone: 770-426-5715
- Broadcasting In Chicago (1929 - 1989); An On-line Museum of Chicago Broadcast History


- The Thousand Oaks Library Foundation's American Radio Archive, City of Thousand Oaks, California (1984 - present)
Highlights: Rudy Vallee, Carlton E. Morse, Fletcher Markle and Norman Corwin Collections
Thousand Oaks Library
1401 E. Janss Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
Phone: (805) 449-2660
- Brigham Young University's L. Tom Perry Special Collections Arts & Communicatiosn Archives (1957 - present)
Bringham Young University
5030 Harold B. Lee Library
Provo, UT 84602
Phone: (801) 422-3175 (reference)
- The Doheny Library of The University of Southern California (1932 - present)
Doheny Memorial Library
3550 Trousdale Parkway
University Park Campus
Los Angeles CA 90089-0185
Phone: (213) 740 2924
- Bowling Green State University's Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives (1897 - present)
Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives
Wm. T. Jerome Library, Third Floor
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
Phone: (419) 372-2307
Fax: (419) 372-7996.
- The University of Maryland's Library of American Broadcasting (1972 - present) a.k.a., Broadcast Pioneers Library
Library of American Broadcasting
Hornbake Library
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: (301) 405-9160
Fax: (301) 314-2634
- The University of Maryland's National Public Broadcasting Archives (1990 - present)
National Public Broadcasting Archives
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
Hours: 10 am - 5 pm, Monday-Friday
Phone: 301-405-9160
Fax: 301-314-2634
- The Media History Project of The School of Journalism and Mass Communication, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication
College of Liberal Arts
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus
101 Pleasant Street S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
- The Vitaphone Project (1991 - present)
The Vitaphone Project
Corresponding Secretary
5 Meade Court
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Phone: (732) 463-8521
FAX: (732) 463-8521
- The Radio GoldIndex Database (1967 - present)
Radio GoldInDex Database
J. David Goldin
P.O. Box 542
Newtown, CT. 06470
Fax: 203-426-2525
Phone: 203-426-2524 (after 11:00 A. M. eastern time only)


- The Library of Congress (1800 - present)
The LOC's Recorded Sound Reference Center
The LOC's Sound ONline Inventory and Catalog (SONIC)
The Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20540
Phone: (202) 707-5000
- The Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Center for Materials Research & Education (SCMRE)
Links to Caring for Antique Communication Devices: Phonographs, radios, telephones, and other communication devices
SCMRE
Museum Support Center
4210 Silver Hill Road
Suitland, Maryland, 20746
Phone: (301) 238-1240
FAX: (301) 238-3709
- The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum
P.O. Box 488
210 Parkside Dr.
West Branch, IA 52358
Phone: (319) 643-5301
Fax: 319-643-6045
- The National Archives & Records Administration (1934 - present)
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Phone: (866) 272-6272
- The American Historical Association (1884 - present)
The American Historical Association
400 A Street, S.E.
Washington, DC 20003-3889
Phone: (202) 544-2422
Fax: (202) 544-8307


- Western Electric History Website (1997 - present)
Western Electric History
David Massey
2853 Spicewood Lane
Kennesaw,GA,US 30152
Phone: 770-426-5715




Copyright Legislation has devolved into an absurd, 1984-esque quagmire of open ended copyright extensions, granted across the board to all intellectual property authors, artists, originators, heirs or assignees, irrespective of the wishes of the originators, living or dead -- and in a new, even more absurd class of assignees, whether or not a copyright had ever been applied for in the first place.
Obviously, none of this has anything whatsoever to do with genuine protection of 'artistic' intellectual property created prior to 1964, but again, irrespective of the wishes of the originator or heirs, the latest round of extensions and legislation places an onerous -- or even impossible -- burden upon the orginators or heirs to place a covered work into the Public Domain.
Don't look to the Copyright Office for anything other than routine copyright research, since even the Copyright Office has been forced to demur to any request to clarify or unravel the absurd current state of affairs where Golden Age Radio material prior to 1964 is concerned.
I can, however, gategorically attest that Copyright Office personnel are some of the most helpful government personnel I've ever dealt with in my attempts to ascertain the status of previously copyright covered works.
Here are some invaluable official publications and legal opinions which may help you navigate the murky waters of current copyright law and rulings:

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