As many of you may be aware, I have been working for the past ten
years to compile a complete rollography for the Violano.  The database
includes all information that is shown on the roll labels and catalogs
including: roll number, roll title, song numbers, song titles,
composers, copyright dates, publishers and so on.  The information
has been gathered from the earlier rollography work by Art Reblitz
and Chuck Pheiffer, several Violano roll catalogs as well as from
individual rolls.

Up until this past week there has been a huge hole in the roll
information between rolls 960 and 1800.  For a while, it was commonly
believed that there might not have been any rolls produced in this
range, but occasionally a roll would show up to dispel this belief.

There is a phrase that says that good things come to those who wait.
About two weeks ago, a copy of the supplement to Violano roll catalog 3
turned up on eBay, which covers rolls 962 to 1702.  A scanned copy of
it was supplied to me by its buyer.  After more than a week of data
entry, the rollography database is more than 700 rolls closer to being
complete.

Mills Novelty Company produced 3121 different rolls for the Violano.
It is possible that not all the roll numbers were used, but if it is
assumed that they were, there are about 190 roll numbers that still
don't have any information in the database.  Ideally, a copy of catalog
edition 4 and another one covering the later rolls will be found some
day to fill in this last information, but the likelihood is low.
Realistically, the contents of these last few rolls will be found
one roll at a time.  This has been the primary source of information
that has been gathered over the duration of this project.

Below is a listing of the 190 roll numbers with no information in the
database.  If you own some Violano rolls or roll catalogs, I am asking
you to please check to see if you have any of these in your collection.

I would appreciate getting the information off those labels in whatever
form is most convenient to you.  My preference is for a legible photo
of the label, since I have accumulated many of these, which are useful
in resolving discrepancies in the database.

I have been very energized on this project by the addition of the
recent information.  Being so close to completing this database is
exciting and I am hoping that it can be done soon.

More information about the Violano rollography and roll scanning can
be seen on my web site.  Thank you in advance for your help with this
project.

Jack Breen
2 Granuaile Road, Southborough, MA 01772 USA
http://www.violanomusic.com/ 
breen@charter.net.geentroep [delete ".geentroep" to reply]

  Violano roll numbers with no information as of 3/5/09:

861, 863-865, 884, 895, 912, 915, 936, 1172-1179, 1194, 1505-1507,
1704, 1706, 1707, 1709, 1711, 1713, 1716-1719, 1722, 1724, 1728,
1731, 1732, 1734, 1739, 1743, 1744, 1746-1748, 1751, 1756, 1760-1763,
1765, 1766, 1768-1773, 1775-1777, 1782-1785, 1801, 1818, 1914, 1954,
1962-1973, 1975-1979,

2046-2051, 2121, 2122, 2146, 2212, 2358-2365, 2367-2372, 2374, 2375,
2586, 2591, 2608-2610, 2640, 2710, 2733, 2782, 2801, 2811, 2833, 2835,
2840, 2855, 2857, 2861, 2874, 2881, 2883, 2887, 2893, 2896, 2897,
2899, 2910, 2912, 2913, 2920-2924, 2931-2933, 2944-2946, 2948, 2953,
2955, 2956, 2963-2966, 2968, 2976-2979, 2984, 2985, 2989, 2990, 2999,

3002, 3008, 3010, 3011, 3014, 3020, 3026, 3029, 3036, 3039, 3048, 3049,
3051, 3058, 3061, 3069, 3078, 3082, 3091, 3094, 3106-3108, 3110, 3111,
3116