Puritan Records was an American record label which lasted from 1917 to 1929. For most of its existence Puritan was a product of the Wisconsin Chair Company, which also marketed Paramount Records, but as a label, Puritan briefly predates Paramount and began with United Phonographs Corporation.
History
Frederick Dennett, founder of the Wisconsin Chair Company, had been manufacturing phonograph cabinets for Edison for several years when he decided to get into the record business himself. After selling one of his manufacturing plants to Edison, Dennett organized the United Phonographs Corporation in late 1916 and went into the production of phonograph models at the Lake Side Craft Shops building at 12th Street and Kentucky Avenue in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. By March 1917, United Phonographs began advertising the sale of phonographs and records utilizing the Puritan trademark. Vertical-cut Puritans of this era are so scarce that little is known of their provenance, though the consensus is that they must have come from other vertical-cut companies, as Wisconsin Chair is not known to have a recording studio in operation before 1919. However, they were capable of pressing records at Wisconsin Chair's Grafton, Wisconsin facility, from 1917. This operation was formally incorporated as the New York Recording Laboratories in June of that year.
But the Puritan label, its phonographs and related business the Colonial Phonograph Company all belonged to subsidiary divisions of Wisconsin Chair. In 1919, Art Satherley established a studio in New York City for the New York Recording Laboratories (often abbreviated as 'NYRL') and Wisconsin Chair truly entered the record market with its in-house label, Paramount Records. Although the release sequence was fudged by a number of factors, from the time both companies began issuing laterals Puritan's releases were mostly issued in lockstep with Paramount, with some considerable exceptions.
Frederick Dennett died in 1920, and in 1922 his successors at United Phonographs Corporation decided to get out of the phonograph business, at which point the Puritan imprint transferred to Wisconsin Chair. For a time afterwards, Puritan records were being pressed by both NYRL in Grafton and by the Bridgeport Die and Machine Company (commonly abbreviated as 'BD&M') in Bridgeport, CT. The NYRL masters were also published on dozens of other labels that were serviced by BD&M such as Banner Records, Triangle and Paramount's sister labels Broadway Records and Famous.
BD&M went bankrupt in 1925, and NYRL dissolved by court order on January 1, 1926. Yet Puritan continued to operate until 1929, using masters from companies such as Regal Records (1921). Puritan's releases reflected the output of Paramount's New York facility, issuing mainstream dance records and popular songs. It continued to do so, for a short time, after the parent label turned its undivided attention to country music and blues, recorded in and around Chicago and by Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana.
Label Design and numbering systems
United Phonographs-era Puritans employ at least three, distinct label designs. The four-colour vertical-cut label features tan and blue overprinting on a light grey background with an inset image of a pilgrim woman listening to her phonograph at fireside; the words "Vertical Cut" appear in red type. With the advent of laterals, the image of the pilgrim woman was kept, but surrounded by fancy lacework in a label printed in varying degrees of gold and black. Near the end of the United Phonographs period, the inset image was replaced by a legend, "America's Best Record." This was retained, with a small amount of the lacework, on the far simpler label design used by NYRL which is gold on blue, similar to Paramount's own design. Around 1925, the label changed from gold on blue to gold on black. BD&M pressings, however, employ their own unique label design of gold and white on black, with an inset profile of the Puritan of legend in a broad-brimmed hat.
