As a longtime narrator for the Talking Book program run through the
American Foundation for the Blind, I can contribute something to clarify
the topic.

In 1931, Congress approved Public Law 89-522, establishing the National
Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division
of the Library of Congress. AFB was approached by Victor who sought
consumers for 33-1/3rpm flexible discs. The first "Talking Books" appeared
in 1934. The story is imperfectly told in Mary Burkey's THAT ALL MAY READ,
which the AFB published about two decades ago. AFB end Talking Book
production in 2009.

DDR

On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 10:16 PM, Thomas Stern <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> A couple more google hits:
>
> 1. a snippet view from Google books shows references
>
> RCA Talking Books for children:
> Records and Recording, Volumes 3-5
> 0 Reviews
>
> http://books.google.com/books/about/Records_and_Recording.html?id=Row4AQAAIAAJ
> Hansom Books, 1940
>
>
> 2. Google books [ANYONE HAVE Record Labels book - what does it say?????]
> American record labels and companies: an encyclopedia (1891-1943)
> Allan Sutton, Kurt R. Nauck
> 1 page matching "talking book" rca in this book
> Page 345
>
> Best wishes, Thomas.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Thomas Stern
> Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2012 7:13 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] RCA/Talking Book Corporation 1940
>
>
> again with the reply to your id, not the list!
>
> "Mary Roberts Rinehart
> Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues
> and articles.  Many of her books and plays were adapted for
> movies, such as THE BAT(1926), THE BAT WHISPERS(1930), and
> THE BAT(1959 remake).  In 1933 RCA Victor released THE BAT as
> one of the earliest talking book recordings."
>
>
> Thomas.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Roger Kulp
> Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2012 5:47 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] RCA/Talking Book Corporation 1940
>
>
>
> I found something interesting today.This is an eighteen page hardbound
> book,published by David McKay,of selections from "A Child's
> Garden of Verses".It is ten inches square,and illustrated by H.Willebeek
> le Mair.What makes it interesting is,it says it's a
> "talking book",published by The Talking Book Company of New York.It came
> with a record of the poems,with original music written by
> Helen Meyers,and sung by Josephine Therese.I can find out nothing about
> these women.The record was made by RCA,who placed their
> logo on the cover.The book has two copyright dates,of 1926,and 1940.Is it
> a 1940 reissue of a 1926 record? I can find nothing
> about the company,but there is one of these up for sale on AbeBooks,and
> like my copy,it has no record.There is also reference to a
> "Little Black Sambo",in the same series owned by the Library of Congress.
> http://scholar.qsensei.com/content/17q6zm/sources/original   This was all
> I could find.What I was wondering,was could
>  this somehow be a successor to the Talking Book Corporation,who made
> those records on cards,with Emerson?Are there more of these
> 1940 records in Peter Muldavin's book?
>
> Roger
>



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Dennis D. Rooney
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