Family Info and great history
This Edison Disc Player has been in our family since it was bought new sometime in 1916, based on the serial number and model number. The Player and a collection of 43 discs were handed down via the Warner/Woolley/Welp Families. Frank R. Warner was the original buyer of this Player, when he was 54 years old, and a farmer in North English, Iowa. At that time he had 3 grandkids (Glenn age 12, Emory*, age 11 and Margery age 9) via his son Jasper Warner and his wife Minnie nee Roller. These 3 grandkids enjoyed visiting Grandpa and listening and dancing to his Edison Diamond Discs. In 1952, Frank Warner passed on and the Player was given to his daughter-in-law Minnie. In the 1960's, Lori Kruse remembers visiting North English and dancing to the records played by Great Grandma Minnie.
Here are some other Edison Discs for your listening pleasure:
Bunch of Blues by the Original Memphis Five, 1923; composers: Kelly and Wyer
Jelly Roll Blues by the Original Memphis Five, 1923 composer: F. "Jelly Roll" Morton
Okoboji Waltz by Feldmann's Orchestra, 1923; composer: Edward C. Horne
For more information on dating this machine, which was built and sold in early 1916, see this link.
The Edison Disc Player
Click on Image above to hear the Iowa Corn Song recorded on January 5th, 1923 at the Edison Laboratories Studio in Orange NJ by the Criterion Quartet. This music file you are hearing was played on the family Edison player, shown below and recorded via iPhone. The flip side of this record is the Okoboji Waltz. Note that this record was not in the original Warner Collection, but bought later by D. Kruse.
Original record index on card included in the Edison Cabinet, and filled out by the Warners. See above and below for front and back of card. Their 43 discs were a mix of genres including Classical Orchestra, Minstrel, Hawaiian music and various novelty records, such as clocks ticking and singing birds. Edison Discs were produced from 1912 to 1929. They are played at 80 RPM (not 78) so Edison Discs cannot be used on Victrola machines and vise versa.
* Emory Warner, went on to study at the University of Iowa, and became the head of the University Hospital's Pathology Department, and now a wing of the Hospital is named for him. In 1938 he became well known for discovering that vitamin K could be used to treat life-threatening hemorrhages in jaundiced patients, with Smith and Brinkhaus. Vitamin K was used significantly in WWII to coagulate bleeding and save injured soldiers. See: http://collguides.lib.uiowa.edu/?RG99.0331