The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR), is a database of over 400,000 master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. It includes audio streaming of more than 70,000 recordings, available free-of-charge. Under an historic and exclusive agreement with Sony Music Entertainment, the library is able to stream thousands of in-copyright recording owned by Sony. The DAHR is part of the American Discography Project (ADP)—an initiative of the University of California, Santa Barbara that is edited by a team of researchers based at the UC Santa Barbara Library. The work is an expansion of the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR) database.
Documentation of the activities of the Victor Talking Machine Company and RCA Victor in the DAHR derives primarily from consultation of publications of the companies and original documents held in the archives of Sony Music Entertainment in New York City. DAHR entries describing recordings made by other companies are based upon existing print works licensed from the publisher, online documentation, contributions from collectors, and examination of discs held by the University of California Santa Barbara library.
DAHR currently includes information on over 400,000 master recordings (matrixes) made by the following companies:
- Victor Talking Machine Company - Victor and RCA Victor recordings made in the United States and in Central and South America before 1939, releases derived from masters recorded in Europe by the Gramophone Company, and trial recordings of new artists and sessions from which no discs were issued. Based upon primary source documents held by the Sony Music Entertainment archives and UCSB.
- Columbia Records - Domestic masters recorded between 1901 and 1934. An adaptation and expansion of the four-volume Columbia Master Book Discography by Tim Brooks and Brian Rust (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999).
- Columbia Records not in the Columbia Master Book that have been digitized by UCSB or have been documented with data provided by Richard K. Spottwood
- Berliner Gramophone Co. - Domestic recordings from 1892 to 1900. An adaptation and expansion of Berliner Gramophone Records: American Issues, 1892-1900, by Paul Charosh (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995).
- Edison Records - Diamond Disc and Needle-type records made between 1912 and 1929. Derived from multiple primary and secondary sources from the Thomas Edison National Historic Park and elsewhere.
- OKeh Records - Recordings made between 1918 and 1934. An adaptation and expansion of Discography of OKeh Records, 1918-1934 by Ross Laird (Westport, Conn.: Praeger Press, 2004).
- Decca Records - Recordings made between 1934 and 1974. An adaptation of The Decca Labels: A Discography, compiled by Michael Ruppli (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996).
- Gennett Records - Recordings made between 1918 and the 1940s by Richmond, Ind. based Gennett. Based on data compiled by Charlie Dahan and Malcolm Rockwell. (In progress.)
- Plaza/ARC - Recordings made between 1921 and 1938 on the Plaza/ARC group of labels prior to the acquisition by CBS. Based on data from Mainspring Press and Sony Music Entertainment archives (Forthcoming)
- Zonophone Records - An adaptation of The American Zonophone Discography: Volume I, Ten- and Twelve-Inch Popular Series (1904–1912), compiled by William R. Bryant, edited and with an introduction by Allan Sutton (Denver, Co.: Mainspring Press, 2012) and The American Zonophone Discography: Volume II, Seven-, Nine-, and First Ten-Inch Series (General Catalog, 1900–1905), compiled by William R. Bryant, edited and with an introduction by Allan Sutton (unpublished).
- Brunswick Records - An adaptation of Brunswick Records: A Discography of Recordings, 1916-1931, compiled by Ross Laird (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999).
- Leeds & Catlin Records - An adaptation of Leeds & Catlin Records, compiled by William R. Bryant, edited and annotated by Allan Sutton (Denver, Co.: Mainspring Press, 2015).
The ADP is also a partner with the Library of Congress National Jukebox project and provides most of the cataloging data used in the Jukebox. As a result of this partnership, over 10,000 recordings made by Victor and Columbia between 1900 and 1925 can be streamed online, as well as more than 40,000 other masters digitized by the University of California Santa Barbara.
