My unsolicited advice would be to enjoy your research as much as you do looking through records. Pick out the records that you find most interesting and start digging into when they were made and who is on them. It's quite addictive!

Also just buy a box of them and then research what you got, and you can learn via using those as your "teacher". Lots of 78 collector sites/databases and random information out there.

not tried this yet but i compiled this via several comments across the internet into one method. If you have the aid of a perfectly flat level surface (like a glass patio table), and magnification aids, and the right glue (one used in tiny amounts that wicks via capillary action and not just globs on the surface), you can get them glued back together. washed beforehand though so you aren't gluing to dirt. after glue is dry, then you can turn them on a vintage steel needle player once or twice to file the glue residue out of the grooves, and then play it on your player of choice. the capillary action glue works by pulling itself to dryer parts of the object, so if put on the edges of the record outside of the grooves, it should travel inside the record and into the grooved area. it might raise up into the grooves which is why filing it with a steel needle player is a precaution. used sparingly it should be ok. depending on how skilled you are with the glue and how much luck you have, you shouldnt hear any more than a dead pop which can be filtered out digitally or reduced. the main thing is you want the pieces perfectly level with no ridges (hence the glass), and the grooves aligned up (hence the magnification). depends on how clean the break is too. if it broke and then chipped along the break as well, leaving a gap, you might not be able to play it without filling the hole in with a soft epoxy and then very slowly hand turning it on a steel needle player to get the needle to follow the path, just enough to carve a new groove in the material so the needle can safely pass through the filled spot without skipping or breaking.

It's a combination record clamp and speed indicator produced by Pathé.

@@MarkAtnip very cool, that’s a new one to me!

If you have a working knowledge of Jazz, Hillbilly, and Blues that will help a lot. Obviously most 78's aren't worth anything. A VAST majority of the recordings I find over the course of a year end up in a $1 bin. Most of those don't sell and I end up giving them away, thus indicating they (literally) aren't worth $1. The well-known names (Crosby, Sinatra, Goodman, Miller, etc...) are usually not worth anything. If someone wants to hear "In the Mood" they can pull it up on their phone. If they collect 78's and want a copy of it, it's easy to find in E condition. Keep an eye out for Race records (Victor 23000 and 38000 series, Okeh 8000 series, Columbia 14000 series) If you have any questions, feel free to post them! Just because it's not valuable doesn't mean someone wouldn't love to have a copy or enjoy listening to it.

If it was, it was converted into smaller pieces over the years. There wasn't a single large piece that fit into the empty space. I like the way you think!

@@MarkAtnip Who needs jigsaw puzzles when you have hours of fun figuring out how an old record goes back together!

Hello! It was King 567 - Rockin Chair Money//When Snowflakes Fall by Bill Carlisle. Recorded in October of 1946.

Nice! I have been aware of Louisiana Hayride for decades, but had no idea that Henderson was the man behind it. No wonder he was so irritated about the other stations bleeding over onto his frequency.

@@MarkAtnip yeah the wkh in kwkh is his initials.

I have been under the impression that a LOT of the records donated to goodwill/salvation army/thrift stores/charity shops are simply tossed. Are you working with an organization that tosses them out? Where are you located?

I feel like tossing 78s is wrong, Goodwills should make a section for records.

If they are going in the trash you can take them. Set them aside in an out of the way area and pick them up on your way out the door. If you have to physically put them outside the store just put them under your car. Not sure what goodwill throws them away, all mine here sell them. I just got a whole binder of them for $14. When I worked at Goodwill I was told to throw out these old 1800s hurricane lanterns because they were "a dangerous fire hazard" and to put them behind the store to be disposed of (hazmat). I just went out and put them by my car instead. Nobody ever said anything or cared. Goodwill is full of morons and they make millions of dollars a day selling stuff they get for free to milk as much money from society as they can, to go directly to the CEO as possible. All while the CEO gets to count all these millions of $$$ as "charity" and not pay a dime of it in taxes. While you struggle every day to break an even wage on the pittance they take from you. They aren't going to miss a bunch of old records, and following the rules will only harm you more. People have done a lot worse at their jobs and are still employed.

I use the poor-man's version of the cleaning solution suggested by ARSC and the Library of Congress. It is a mixture of distilled water, colorless, unscented detergent, and a surfactant. For really dirty discs like these I use a painter's edging pad. It has thousands of bristles, doesn't damage the disc if it is used gently, and I found out that there is a major and important archive that uses off-the-shelf painter's pads for their discs, so that's good enough for me. I KNOW there are videos out there showing discs being submerged with the labels being soaked. Even if it doesn't damage the labels (and it usually will) it certainly isn't benefiting them, and the point of cleaning is to benefit the disc. I judge people that soak labels under water. : )

@@MarkAtnip Have you tried those manual record washers that put the record vertically into a solution bath and you crank them around?

@@MrWolfSnack Something like a "spinclean"? I have found that they work wonderfully for LP's. I haven't used them on my 78's, however my presumption is that they would work well, and are a much less expensive option than a lot of other cleaning gadgets out there. In addition, using something like a spinclean or (as I use) painters pads allows you to do a quick but thorough cleaning of a disc without having to invest 10+ minutes.

@@MarkAtnip Oh ok, cool. Well my concern is I too have a lot of really dirty records like the ones in this video and I need a safe way to give them a bath, as they need a lot of washing that probably a pad wouldn't be able to get clean, and I'm concerned about all the old needle debris and gunk they have in their grooves.