The Phonograph Goes to War

A recruiting station in Britain uses a phonograph to help drum up business in 1915.

Credit: Scientific American, November 6, 1915

 

1918

1919 postcard showing US Army personnel listening to a disc playing "Victrola"

This poster was displayed in a Department store in 1918 to support World War I American troops by bringing in unused records. (2)

 

HELP YOUR GOVERNMENT World War II War Drive

Bring One Old Phonograph Record and 5 Cents for Kiddie Matinee Admission - The El Reno Daily Tribune, June 16, 1942, El Reno, OK.

U.S. Troops listening to phonograph record during World War II

NARA (National Archives and Records Administration), Photographs and Graphic Works, College Park, MD, 44-PA-1377

See War, Vinyl and Print: Music for the Troops during World War II August 10, 2015 by Mary Macklem for an article about how the Army Special Services initiated “V-Discs” (the V stood for “victory”) to boost troop morale in 1943. Courtesy of National Endowment for the Humanities.

Also see Annegret Fauser’s book, Sounds of War, which "reveals the forgotten history of how the armed forces supported music and music-making for strategic purposes..." (3)

World War II U.S. Army Special Services Phonograph Player

Inside Lid of Special Services Phonograph - View full Operating Instructions

Phonographia