2019.077

Twenty, 78 rpm 10” records from the La Patrie Disc Francais record label and supporting information given on a thumb drive (to be printed). Patent protection for recording and pressing technology for the major record labels (notably Victor Talking Machine Company and Columbia) ended in 1915. This caused a flourishing of small, independent labels, some of them producing records for ethnic audiences. The La Patrie Disc Francais record label was established in Lawrence, MA, ca. 1919. The company produced records for the French-speaking market until ca. 1925. The founder of the label was Joseph D. Noel, a musical instrument dealer of Lawrence. Joseph David Noel was a music dealer in Lawrence about 1909. He was born in Quebec and died in Methuen in 1960. Noel's shop was located at 233 Broadway. He established a French music record company in Lawrence. Noel's recordings were possibly pressed in Boston on the "Gray Gull" label and later in Quebec on the "Star" label. . From ca. 1917 to the early 1930s there was a 78 rpm record label based in Lawrence that produced material for the French-Canadian community. The label, La Patrie Disc Francais, was set up by a local French-Canadian by the name of Herman Tremblay, a Lawrence undertaker, who was also born in Quebec. He sings on several of the recordings along with his wife (a pianist) and other people from the French community who contributed everything from Quebecois fiddle to comedic recitations.
The patent protection for Victor and Columbia recording labels expired in 1915. Following this expiration there was a burst of production in legal ethnic recordings, including the "La Patrie" label (1919 - 1923).
The donated records were acquired at flea markets, used record stores and online auctions between roughly 1995 and 2015