Guide to the McDermott Record collection, 1900-1940

Series I. Enrico Caruso
Box 1
This series consists of 25 78 r.p.m. albums containing forty-eight audio recordings of Enrico Caruso. The albums were produced by the Victor Talking Machine Co. of Camden, NJ. between 1908 and 1929. The date noted for each recording represents the date the song was first recorded by Caruso.
Enrico Caruso was born on February 25, 1873, in Naples, Italy. One of seven children (and only one of three who made it to adolescence), he was a bright and precocious child who had a talent for singing. While his father believed Enrico would follow in his footsteps as a mechanic, his mother encouraged the boy to follow his natural talent in singing.

While Caruso enjoyed success as an opera singer, he would not record his voice until he was in his late twenties. In 1902, he began recording for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company of England, which would later become the well-known H.M.V., an affiliate of the Victor Company. Throughout his career, Caruso received many orders, decorations, testimonials and other kinds of honors from the monarchs, governments and cultural organizations of the various nations in which he sang. He would perform until 1920, when he was struck severely ill with a respiratory ailment from which he would never recover. He passed away in August 5, 1921.

Series II. John McCormack
Box 1
This series consists of 25 78 r.p.m. albums containing thirty-four audio recordings of John McCormack. The albums were produced by the Victor Talking Machine Co. of Camden, NJ. between 1910 and 1929.
John McCormack was born on June 14, 1884, in Athlone, Ireland, the fourth of seven children. McCormack recorded his first songs at the age of twenty in 1904 for the Edison Company and the Gramophone & Typewriter Company. The following year McCormack traveled to Italy for further, more formal, vocal training.

Upon his return from Italy in 1906, McCormack made a number of recordings for the Odeon Company. The Odeon Company was later purchased by the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1910, which meant that the Victor Company also bought out McCormack's contract. For the rest of his career, McCormack recorded exclusively for the Victor Company, and its British affiliate, H.M.V.

From 1923 until his retirement in 1938, McCormack devoted himself to recording and performing on tour. During this time, he had become a singer of great renown all over the world, known for both his moving performances, as well as his masterful breath control. He also became an actor, lending his talents to the medium of film. At the outbreak of World War II, McCormack came out of retirement to tour for the Allied troops, just as he had during World War I. His constant touring would take a toll on his health in 1943, and he would pass away on September 16, 1945.

Series III. Latin Series
Box 1
The first set of lessons were recorded by the now defunct Student Educational Records, Inc. in Camden, New Jersey. The second set of lessons were recorded by the distinguished Harvard professor Edward Kennard Rand (1871-1945). He was an American classicist and medievalist, teaching at Harvard for over forty years. He founded the Medieval Academy of America in 1925 and the quarterly journal Speculum in 1926.

This series consists of five 78 r.p.m. albums containing ten audio recordings created by Student Educational Records, Inc., as well as eleven 78 r.p.m. albums containing twenty-one audio recordings created by the Harvard Phonograph Records Company, which was a subsidiary of Harvard University Press.

Series IV. Assorted Recordings
Box 1
This series contains the recordings of a wide variety of individual artists on different record labels, such as Cameo, Decca, Columbia and Radiex. Artists in this series include world famous Austrian tenor Richard Tauber, and Irish singer Seamus O'Doherty. Additional recording are of the Berlin State Opera House Orchestra, and the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony.

Series V. Victor Talking Machine Company
Box 2
his series contains the recordings of a wide variety of individual artists, such as the Austrian-born violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler, Reinald Werrenrath, who was famous for his Songs on The Great War, and Feodor Chaliapin, who was known at the time as the most famous Russian opera singer of the 20th century. The series also contains the recordings of many other well-known early 20th century musical artists.

Additional recording are of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Victor Military Band, and the International Novelty Orchestra. The discs contained in box five have recordings on both sides while the discs in box six are single-sided only.