Puritan Records
| Puritan Records | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Founded | 1917 |
| Defunct | 1929 |
| Status | Inactive |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
Puritan Records was an American record label which lasted from 1917 to 1929. For most of its existence Puritan was a product of the Wisconsin Chair Company, which also marketed Paramount Records, but as a label Puritan briefly predates Paramount and began with United Phonographs Corporation.
Frederick Dennett, founder of the Wisconsin Chair Company, had been manufacturing phonograph cabinets for Edison for several years when he decided to get into the record business himself. After selling one of his manufacturing plants to Edison, Dennett organized the United Phonographs Corporation in late 1916 and went into production of phonograph models at the Lake Side Craft Shops building at 12th Street and Kentucky Avenue in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. By March 1917, United Phonographs began advertising the sale of phonographs and records utilizing the Puritan trademark. Vertical-cut Puritans of this era are so scarce that little is known of their provenance, though the consensus is that they must have come from other vertical-cut companies, as Wisconsin Chair is not known to have a recording studio in operation before 1919. However, they were capable of pressing records at Wisconsin Chair's Grafton, Wisconsin facility, from 1917. This operation was formally incorporated as the New York Recording Laboratories in June of that year.
But the Puritan label, its phonographs and related business the Colonial Phonograph Company all belonged to subsidiary divisions of Wisconsin Chair. In 1919, Art Satherley established a studio in New York City for the New York Recording Laboratories (often abbreviated as 'NYRL') and Wisconsin Chair truly entered the record market with its in-house label, Paramount Records. Although the release sequence was fudged by a number of factors, from the time both companies began issuing laterals Puritan's releases were mostly issued in lockstep with Paramount, with some considerable exceptions.
Frederick Dennett died in 1920, and in 1922 his successors at United Phonographs Corporation decided to get out of the phonograph business, at which point the Puritan imprint transferred to Wisconsin Chair. For a time afterward, Puritan records were being pressed by both NYRL in Grafton and by the Bridgeport Die and Machine Company (commonly abbreviated as 'BD&M') in Bridgeport, CT. The NYRL masters were also published on dozens of other labels that were serviced by BD&M such as Banner Records, Triangle and Paramount's sister labels Broadway Records and Famous.
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