Please support our sponsors who are graciously bringing the AHL to you today!
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A Message To Manufacturers
The mission of the Audio History
Library is to collect everything that will contribute to the
knowledge of how the sound industry came about and how it developed.
We do this first by collecting manufacturers’ product literature,
sales brochures, specification – or “spec” sheets, and
pamphlets. The products a company produced is their very identity.
Please send these materials, or call
me, and if possible I will pick them up. All donations are fully
tax-deductible, receipted, and greatly appreciated!
You can also help by writing down
company history with which you’re familiar. Any documentation you can send is encouraged to corroborate your recollections.
We are looking for:
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- Background history of those involved with
founding the company.
- Their activities together precipitating formation of the
company.
- Date & location of incorporation.
- A photograph of the founder(s) during that time period.
- A photograph and address of the dorm / garage / house
(cradle of invention) and then of the first (and
subsequent) factory(ies).
- Dates at each location.
- Original product literature for the first five products.
- Dates manufacturing started on the products and when
production ceased.
- Actual number of units made of each product.
- A “timeline” with information highlighting other
noteworthy products over your company’s history.
- Experimental work (and photos).
- Any transfer(s) of corporate ownership (or history thereof).
- A current photo of the facility, founder, CEO.
- Capitalization annually
over the history of the company(ies). © AHL
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The Audio History Library looks forward
to hearing from you. Please write us with the above
information so your company can accurately be represented as part of
the industry-wide account of our great history.
Let’s Raise Our Standards!
When you have seen as much product
literature as we have, a set of criteria emerges that obviates itself
as an industry standard, to which you hope that all companies will
adhere.
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Date. Please print a small
date on the bottom or lower right corner of the back-side of your
flyer or on the back of your booklet. This will save us a lot of
research time, or of not being
sure of your product’s chronological place along audio’s
continuum.
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Printing. Please do NOT photocopy. Take your product literature, owner’s manuals,
revisions, etc. to a genuine professional Printing Company. They
use printer’s ink which is absorbed into the paper. Toner, the
fine powder in a photocopy machine, gets fused with a heating
element only to the surface of the paper, and over time will
adhere to any adjacent pages, making a visual mess.
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Address. With all the
considerable effort you and your employees have expended in
manufacturing your product, like proud parents, one would think you
deserve to enjoy credit for your opus. So where is your address and
phone number? It’s amazing that some people list only their
email, but no address or phone. And a few, not even that! We have
a basket for “orphan” product brochures. Mystery does not equal
cachet. Also, learning how to write a letter or carry on an
intelligent verbal conversation are positive mental disciplines,
worthy of society’s continuance. Only communicating the “easy”
way will eventually rob humanity of intellectual rigor.
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WEB. If you only list a
website as a means of driving people to the site, please consider the
transparency of listing your other contact information as well
(letter & phone), and invite people to your site instead of forcing them.
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Country of Origin. Some
importers, possibly out of fear of competition or for turf
protection, pretend they are the manufacturer. Why not be honest?
If you do a good job and your work is of quality, no manufacturer
will drop you.
* In addition to your donation of
historical materials, like all organizations, financial
contributions are necessary. It will take $440,000 to initiate a
3-year project to put the entire library on-line, $20 million to buy
a Manhattan building which will house many audio-related
organizations and an audio museum, and another $45 million to
adequately endow all facets of this important project.
Will your company buy banner ads? Will
your CEO, marketing manager, or curator share historical materials
with us? It’s vitally important to have a company’s history in
more than one place! Is it within your corporation’s ability to
give us a grant? Any ways your company can help our efforts will be tax receipted and gratefully received!
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