When I Carved Your Name on the Tree

National Phonograph Company

1912

4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches (d)

Cylinder: blue-tinted celluloid over a plaster of Paris core
Case: cardboard, paper, ink

2015.8.1

Even as the popularity of records began to overtake the recorded cylinder market, Thomas Edison continued to use the form he had developed and release music on these "Amberol" cylinders. The blue amberols–manufactured from 1912 to 1929–were more durable than the black ones that preceded them, and increased the possible playback time from 4 minutes to 4 minutes and 45 seconds. Although the fragile nature of the cylinders made records superior–a fact Edison himself would soon recognize as he turn his attention to records in 1915–he continued making Blue Amberol Records, albeit somewhat half-heartedly. After 1915, he no longer recorded Amberols directly, but instead dubbed them from the more profitable Diamond-disc recordings he began in 1912. As a result, the post-1915 Blue Amberol Records are marked by a hollow sound that likely accelerated the public's appetite for records.

The outer case is not original to cylinder and does not match contents.

Harvey Hindermeyer [sic]