The production of records and players began in Canada in 1899, when Emile Berliner opened a subsidiary operation in Montreal. The Museum has a comprehensive collection of Canadian-made Berliner machines. The first of Berliner's many Canadian competitors opened for business in 1907, and as the basic patents on sound recording began to expire after 1910, an increasing number of manufacturers entered the fray. Many of these built on established expertise in wood fabrication by importing metal components from the United States and installing them in locally-made cabinets. The Museum's collection includes machines built by makers of furniture (McLagan, 930029), aircraft (Curtiss, 750041), pianos (Heintzman, 980035), and organs (Casavant, 940237), as well as by specialized phonograph builders like Pollock/Phonola (770298) and Canadian Vitaphone (770246). Weakened by the introduction of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s, the acoustic phonograph industry collapsed entirely with the onset of the Depression in 1929. Henceforth, the only acoustic record players built in Canada were portables.

Fig. 12. BerlinerGT(770132), made in Canada, ca 1910.(CSTM)

Fig. 13. Casavant phonograph (940237) made by the famous organ builders, ca 1927. (Peter Lindell/CSTM)

Fig. 14. Portables like the Sni-Dor 31 (830283) were among the last acoustical phonographs, ca 1941. (Peter Lindell/ CSTM)