Victor Alhambra model 4669 phonograph: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This cabinet model phonograph was made in the 1920s by the Victor Talking Machine Company. By 1939 phonograph technology had been tinkered with for half a century, and the ten-inch, 78-rpm shellac disc was the standard for popular recordings. Each side held about three minutes of music and sold for thirty-five to seventy-five cents. The larger twelve-inch format was better suited for classical music and spoken-word recordings and held about four to five minutes of sound. Shellac was extremely brittle, but remained the primary material for records until the invention of the vinyl LP in 1948.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1925
• maker: Victor Talking Machine Company
• Object Name: phonograph
• Object Name: record player
• Measurements: overall: 34 in x 35 in x 23 in; 86.36 cm x 88.9 cm x 58.42 cm
• ID Number: EM.330480
• catalog number: 330480
• accession number: 298717
• Credit Line: from RCA Corporation, thru Anthony Sylvester
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.