Various short-lived companies used the name "Liberty" to market a phonograph and/or records in the late teens and early 1920s. In 1916, the Melophone Talking Machine Company, Inc., 380-384 Lafayette Street, New York, NY, USA, advertised in Talking Machine World, Feb-Jun, as the manufacturer of the Melophone and Liberty Phonographs. In November, 1917, a Liberty Phonograph Co. was incorporated under the laws of Delaware, USA, "for the purpose of manufacturing and dealing in talking machines and records". In 1918, a Liberty Phonograph Co. in Minneapolis, Minnesota marketed the New Liberty Phonograph. In 1918-1919, a Liberty Phonograph Co. in New York and Cleveland manufactured the Liberty lateral record. It was succeeded by the Arrow Phonograph Corp. in February, 1920. In Fall, 1921, a Liberty Phonograph Co. was granted a charter of incorporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA to buy and sell phonographs, with no mention of manufacturing machines.
In late 1923, The Liberty Phonograph Shop, 440 Yonge Street, opposite Carlton Street, Toronto, Ontario advertised four models of Liberty-branded phonographs, "The Universal Phonograph" - Sheraton, Colonial, Queen Anne and Console - through their "Liberty "Progressive" Phonograph Club". Some included a radio receiving set. The manufacturer is unknown but during this period Ontario companies such as The George McLagan Furniture Co., Limited and the Purdy Phonograph Co. regularly supplied small retailers with made-to-order machines.
Windsor Star, October 2, 1923, p. 20.
Windsor Star, October 6, 1923, p. 30.
Toronto Daily Star, November 30, 1923, p. 12.
Toronto Daily Star, December 7, 1923, p. 6.
Toronto Daily Star, December 14, 1923, p. 27.
Toronto Daily Star, December 21, 1923.
A Liberty upright phonograph cabinet, in sorry condition without the mechanism, for sale in Orangeville, Ontario in 2023. Note the logo on the cabinet lid matches the graphic in the December 7, 1923 ad.
