At the height of my collecting days I had several thousand Duo-Art,
Welte and Ampico rolls, and 88-noters in number greater than that,
plus an assortment of other odd rolls (especially test rolls), 58s,
65s, etc.  I built up sections of adjustable-height shelving on clip
tracks, with wooden shelves across for every three tiers of rolls, with
cut pieces of Masonite between the three layers so that when removing
a roll the one above wouldn't fall down into its place.

I purchased a supply of clear plastic tabs such as items in stores hang
on rods sticking out from the back wall.  These were stuck on the bottom
of each box, with the tab sticking out to provide a good pull without
damaging the box ends.  Fortunately most classical rolls were of similar
height, so they were in one section whereas the shorter 88s and such
were in their own section, allowing more storage per vertical foot.

With the reproducing rolls I placed them in numerical order, because
I had acquired fairly complete hard-bound catalogs of the three brands
which allowed me to look up the numbers.  This came about because
starting around 1945 or so I acquired lots of records, mostly 10-inch
78s, and found quickly that the best system was to use the catalog
numbers and catalogs, but when I cataloged the library of records
for a new radio station (my first job, and first in radio, at age 14)
I found a card file was necessary, and records were stored in shelf
cubicles which would hold an arbitrary 90 records each.

The space could hold 100, but we left room for additions but mostly to
avoid breakage caused by storing them packed too tightly.  Thus each
record would be given a combination bin-disc number (i.e. 5-61, or Bin
5, Record 61) which was labeled on each record and its Recordvelope
sleeve, to guarantee easy replacement on the shelves.

To prevent breakage (they weren't _all_ vinyl DJ copies), the DJs
were urged to return the records in their correct sleeves to the space
provided for returns in the record library, and I or perhaps one of the
DJs would replace them on the shelves.  This tended to cut down on
having the same recording played too often in any given day.  With the
popular rolls I kept them in alphabetical order by title, and each tier
was left with perhaps two or three empty spaces for expansion.

Now this goes back several decades; if I still had all my collection
I'm sure they would all be transferred to a computer list.  I don't
know, but wouldn't be surprised, if someone has taken the various label
lists and made computer versions available, to save all that entry work.

I eventually sold my eight or nine different pianos and organs and the
rolls, and roughly 150 music boxes and like number of talking machines.
Wish it weren't so, but in retirement and a couple of moves it just
became too much.  I do miss a lot of the rolls, especially the two
Duo-Art rolls of "Sonny Boy", one of which had the most incredible
break with, I think, four changes of key in a row.

Unfortunately I no longer have much of a collection, but many
wonderful memories of the artifacts and fellow collectors met over the
years.  I hope you are enjoying your collection and the camaraderie
such brings about.  Great folk like the Roehls, the Fitches, Frank
Adams, Art Sanders, Ruth Bornand, Dani Konvalinko, John Bishop, Bill
Endlein, J. B. Nethercutt, and others too numerous to mention such as
all the founding members of what is now called MBSI.

My best to you all,
Lee Munsick