Since 1998, the GRAMMY-winning reissue label Archeophone Records has been preserving, restoring, and publishing recordings from the acoustic era of sound—the years from 1890 through 1925 when records were made into the acoustic horn, that is, without electricity. Our reissues feature top-notch audio restorations and extensive notes, illustrations, and original research that make these historic recordings accessible. Almost any type of music or spoken-word recording from the acoustic era is within our purview.
Archeophone has released 82 reissues to date, featuring material ranging from spoken word and comedy to spirituals, ragtime, pop and early jazz and dance bands. Archeophone has provided audio transfers, consultation, and record-finding services for TV shows such as Boardwalk Empire and select PBS presentations. Our releases have been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and on NPR.
Archeophone is an institutional member of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections and the Antique Phonograph Society. Owners and in-house production team of Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey are voting members of NARAS’ Producers & Engineers Wing and were co-founders of FirstSounds.org, the research collaborative that unveiled humanity’s first recordings of its own voice in March 2008. In 2011, Martin and Hennessey were honored on Slate.com’s list of 25 cultural innovators of our time.
Archeophone is currently owned and operated in Champaign, Illinois.
Honors & Awards
Archeophone releases have been nominated for 21 GRAMMY Awards, with one win, as well as four ARSC Awards for Excellence.
GRAMMY Awards and Nominations
Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1891-1922
- Winner, Best Historical Album, 2006
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2006
Actionable Offenses: Indecent Phonograph Recordings from the 1890s
- Nominee, Best Historical Album, 2007
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2007
Debate ’08: Taft and Bryan Campaign on the Edison Phonograph
- Nominee, Best Historical Album, 2008
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2008
Sophie Tucker, Origins of the Red Hot Mama, 1910-1922
- Nominee, Best Historical Album, 2009
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2009
There Breathes a Hope: The Legacy of John Work II and His Fisk Jubilee Quartet, 1909-1916
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2010
Isham Jones, Happy: The 1920 Rainbo Orchestra Sides
- Nominee, Best Historical Album, 2014
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2014
Joseph C. Smith’s Orchestra, Songs of the Night: Dance Recordings, 1916-1925
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2015
Waxing the Gospel: Mass Evangelism & the Phonograph, 1890-1900
- Nominee, Best Historical Album, 2016
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2016
Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, Inventor of Sound Recording: A Bicentennial Tribute
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2017
4 Banjo Songs, 1891-1897: Foundational Recordings of America’s Iconic Instrument
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2018
Alpine Dreaming: The Helvetia Records Story, 1920-1924
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2018
The Product of Our Souls: The Sound and Sway of James Reese Europe’s Society Orchestra
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2018
- Nominee, Best Historical Album, 2020
At the Minstrel Show: Minstrel Routines From the Studio, 1894-1926
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2020
The Missing Link: How Gus Haenschen Got Us From Joplin to Jazz and Shaped the Music Business
- Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2020
ARSC Awards for Excellence
There Breathes a Hope: The Legacy of John Work II and His Fisk Jubilee Quartet, 1909-1916
- Nominee, Best Historical Research in Blues/Gospel/Hip-Hop/R&B, 2011
Dan W. Quinn, Anthology: The King of Comic Singers, 1894-1917
- Best History, Best Research in Recorded Popular Music, 2016
Waxing the Gospel: Mass Evangelism & the Phonograph, 1890-1900
- Nominee, Best Historical Research in Blues/Gospel/Hip-Hop/R&B, 2017
Attractive Hebrews: The Lambert Yiddish Cylinders, 1901-1905
- Nominee, Best Historical Research in Record Labels, 2017
Alpine Dreaming: The Helvetia Records Story, 1920-1924
- Nominee, Best Historical Research in Recorded Labels or General Recording Topics
Praise for Archeophone
“A wonderfully adventurous Illinois-based label that specializes in exhuming long-forgotten but fascinating sound recordings of the past.”
Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal
“Truly epochal reissues, which unearth completely forgotten chapters of musical history. The tiny Illinois-based Archeophone label has been doing that kind of archaeology for several years now, almost single-handedly championing the popular music of the acoustic recording era.”
Jody Rosen, Slate.com
Archeophone Outtakes 