My grandparents were spectacular people who gave me the best things in life: encouragement, loving memories, and cool artifacts from history. Their collection of old 78 shellac records not only sounds great, it looks great, too. Now I know why. Rudolf A. Bruil wrote a wonderfully thorough article on the visual design and packaging of the old 78 shellac record and  33 1/3 RPM record formats. If you appreciate those old records for not only their vintage sound, but also their visual design and packaging, read his article titled “Alex Steinweiss and Other Artists and Designers” at SoundFountain.org.

http://www.soundfountain.org/rem/remcovart.html

I didn’t know about the pioneering visual design work of Alexander Steinweiss and others for record labels like Columbia. It turns out he designed some of my favorite 78 record sets from my grandparents. In the photo for this post, I enlarged his last name on the front cover so you can see it. If you like Bruil’s article on packaging design, make sure to listen to our 2007 episode with Dr. Bix and the MSU School of Packaging.

Thank-you Mr. Bruil for your excellent in-depth article. And thank-you, Gram and Grampa, for sharing your lives and your record collection with me. All these years later I still miss you every day, and am still learning  from the legacy you left.