Black Swan (U.S.A.) / 1921
Corporate background:
Label scan courtesy of UK music researcher
and collector Bill Dean-Myatt.
One of the most sought-after of all
American labels, launched in 1921 by Harry Pace, a black
entrepreneur who had partnered with legendary bandleader W.C.
Handy).
The first label to be aimed at the black
segment of the record-buying public, Black Swan was bought out
by Paramount in 1923 after it had gone into bankruptcy, but was
discontinued shortly thereafter.
Design: While
the label was named for Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, a famous
black opera singer of the late 1800s who was known as
‘The Black Swan,’ the logo shows the well-known
Australian waterfowl.
The font used for the imprinting is
Cheltenham, the American job printer’s workhorse, which
made its first appearance in 1904.
As an example of cultural interchange (the
British typeface of William Caslon having been used for almost
all early American printing), Cheltenham, named after an
English town, became very popular in England (e.g. see the
Bouwmeester label on the next page).