The following is a list of over 3600 titles recorded from my collection of 78 rpm records....Right now, there are over 2,450 titles on this page linked to mp3's....I have about 2500 more records to record, so I'll be adding more titles as time permits over the next hundred years or so....I loaded a searchable ACCESS database for this list HERE. [.mdb] I don't know if it will work for everyone. Good luck!
posted on Jul 24, 2008 - View this thread

Wayne Miller's compelling B&W photos of Chicago 1946-1948 set to Muddy Water's "I feel like going home." (flash alert; via bifurcated rivets)
posted on Apr 20, 2008 - View this thread

USA 1940-1950 USA 1939-1969. Color photographs. [Possible NSFW ads.]
posted on Mar 27, 2008 - View this thread

"If Communists liked what we did, that was their good luck," said Lee Hays, founding member of the Almanac Singers. A fascinating portrait of one of the linchpins of the politically engaged folk movement of the '40s and '50s. Hays sang beside the more celebrated (and, on one important day in Bob Dylan history, infamous) Pete Seeger on such classic Almanac albums as Talking Union. [Listen here.]
posted on Feb 18, 2008 - View this thread

The Unsung Joe: Where bit-part actors go when they die. Biographies of the most obscure micro-stars of 1940s and '50s cinema, all remarkably well-researched and richly illustrated.
posted on Dec 11, 2007 - View this thread

New York artist Ashley Hope's Ripeness is All exhibit at the Tilton Gallery recreates crime scene photographs of murdered women from the 1910s through the 1990s as oil paintings on huge 4' x 6' canvasses. [some nsfw art]
posted on Nov 30, 2007 - View this thread

"For the quarter-century following World War II, a special kind of classroom film received wide circulation. These "mental hygiene" films thrived in a confused and nervous America. The rebellious behavior of young people challenging the social norms struck fear into the hearts of parents and educators, who saw dark futures for the teens who broke the rules and refused to fit in with society. These concerned adults embraced the metal hygiene film as a new means of delivering social guidance." Program One: Manners, Menstruation and The American Way; Program Two: Dating, Deliquency and Diversity; Program Three: Conformity, Safety and The Bomb

Special Bonus: Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello, Mitch Rouse & Steven Colbert re-enact How To Be Popular (from Program Two).
posted on Jun 8, 2007 - View this thread

In light of all of the recent genre-crossing cover posts on MetaFilter [1, 2], here's another. The Puppini Sisters cover such classics as Wuthering Heights, Heart of Glass and I Will Survive in 1940s style jazz. Enjoy.
posted on Apr 21, 2007 - View this thread

Fruit Crate Label Art from the 1910s Thru 1950s (via)
posted on Apr 14, 2007 - View this thread

Vibraphone Orchestra
posted on Apr 8, 2007 - View this thread

Boilproof nipples — Girly pirates? — Hubris — Atomic nose candy — Pit paranoia — The gay mafia's beverage of choice — Mouthwash for flaky skin — Spam spam spam spam — Dead-fish eyes — and more American advertising from 1932 to 1959...
posted on Mar 30, 2007 - View this thread

Fans of Vintage Cultural Ephemera Rejoice!

Illustration and print design of the 1920s-30s
Cold War Propaganda (on both sides)
Illustration and print design of the forties
Vintage cigarrette advertising
Sheet Music of the 1800s - 1950s
Out of print cookbooks
7-Up advertising (pre 1980s)

All of these (and much more) found via this excellent Flickr Page of Groups administered by cultural archivist Paula Wirth.
posted on Dec 15, 2006 - View this thread

Before music videos on MTV, even before Scopitones (previously on MeFi 1, 2, 3), there were Soundies. In a brief period during the early 40s, patrons of bars, diners and bus stations could slip a dime into a Panoram jukebox and see a three-minute 16mm video clip projected inside the machine. Soundies featured popular musicians of the era including Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Nat King Cole, and Louis Armstrong. You can also find Soundies at Archive.org, including a great one from Reg Kehoe and his Marimba Queens.
posted on Dec 1, 2006 - View this thread

British public information films. A couple of months back, there was a post about an online exhibition of British propaganda films from WWII. Now, the UK National Archives, who appear to be slowly working their way through the decades, have posted some public information films from the 40s and 50s. BBC News discusses the history of public information films, particularly the famous "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases" (available in Windows Media (sigh) here). My favourite is this optimistic look at how the new towns developed after the war were going to be just *great*. I grew up in a new town - Hemel Hempstead. Let's just say it didn't quite work out that way.
posted on Oct 24, 2005 - View this thread

The Pin-up Files :: Hundreds of classic and modern drawings of glamorous and beautiful women. Also includes artist bios, notes on many of the images, and a great list of links to other sites. I find it interesting to see how our idea of what is erotic or beautiful have changed (and remained the same) from the '40's to today. This site contains some material which might be considered of an adult nature. Viewer discretion is advised.
posted on Jun 21, 2004 - View this thread

How To Make Friends By Telephone :: a useful how-to book from the 1940's
posted on May 27, 2004 - View this thread

In our mind's eye, much of the past exists in black and white. (via gordon.coale)
posted on May 14, 2004 - View this thread

Mike Disfarmer had a photo studio in the resort town of Heber Springs, Arkansas throughout the 30s and 40s, creating images with an amazing blunt, unvarnished beauty and strength. Nothing speaks more eloquently about Disfarmer's artistry than the photographs themselves. His genius was the ability to capture without judgment, the essence of a people and a time.
posted on Apr 11, 2004 - View this thread

Irwin Norling of Bloomington, Minnesota was a more modest version of Man Ray – with his family in tow, he documented crime and accident scenes for the local police. (The photo gallery is probably NSFW and not safe for delicate stomachs.) He also prolifically documented everyday Bloomington life from the 1940s through the 1980s. City Pages writer Brad Zellar (weblog) stumbled across Norling's photographic archives while visiting the historical society, tracked down the man himself, and wrote this terrific article ... unfortunately Norling passed away a month before its publication.
posted on Mar 21, 2003 - View this thread