Scope and Content Note
Assembled by American Decca Records founder and president Jack Kapp, the collection consists of mostly original drawings by various magazine and newspaper cartoonists, such as Rube Goldberg, H. T. Webster, Gluyas Williams, L. M. Glackens, Burt Thomas, Fred Packer, Clifford Berryman, James Berryman, Jack Markow, and David Breger. The drawings, chiefly editorial cartoons, reflect the role of the phonograph in American life and offer historical commentary on the internal issues of the American phonograph industry, particularly the American Federation of Musicians recording ban of 1942-1944. The collection also features a framed album cover for the 1943 Decca Records cast recording of the musical, Oklahoma! The cast recording became a standard product category for record companies due to the immense success of this album.
Some Jack Kapp correspondence is included in the collection; it is stored in the Recorded Sound Research Center subject files. For more information or to view the correspondence, contact a reference librarian in the Recorded Sound Research Center, Library of Congress.