Between 1889 and 1895, as the recording industry slowly began to develop, most recordings were made by lesser-known artists and even by amateur talent. Fred Gaisberg, one of Emile Berliner's assistants, plucked monologist George Graham off a Washington street corner where he was overheard selling some kind of an elixir. Columbia Records promoted John Y. Atlee, a Treasury Department clerk. The New England Phonograph Company discovered a young member of the Boston Theater Stock Company named Russell Hunting (also recorded by Berliner) who had a talent for telling funny Irish dialect stories. Often home-grown talent faded into obscurity in a year or two; however, Graham, Atlee, and Hunting became quite famous through their recordings.

One exception to this dependence on lesser-known talent was in the field of popular instrumental music, where excellent performers abounded. Before the turn of the century there were many recordings by the U.S. Marine Band, Patrick Gilmore's Twenty-second Regiment Band, the Sousa Band, and the Banda Rossa of Italy. These were all considered among the finest bands in that era of great band music. Also well represented on early recordings are such famous instrumental soloists as Herbert L. Clarke, Jules Levy, W. Paris Chambers, Arthur Pryor, Simone Mantia, and Vess Ossman.

Many of the best nineteenth-century recordings were those issued by the Berliner Gramophone Company. The Berliner repertory deviated little from the repertory of other recording companies of the period. A typical repertory was made up of popular and traditional songs, funny stories, band pieces, miscellaneous solos played on those instruments that recorded well (such as the cornet, trombone, and piccolo), whistling solos, and a few dramatic recitations. The performers would have been Washington residents and perhaps a few others who came to town to make recordings for the fast growing Columbia company and were glad to earn a few more dollars from Berliner. One notable exception was the U.S. Marine Band, which did not record for Berliner until 1899. Apparently Francesco Fanciulli, John Philip Sousa's successor as leader, felt that the Columbia Company was keeping his men busy enough. For band recordings, Berliner used Will Haley's Concert Band of Washington, a group about which nothing else is known. Apparently the very earliest records were issued without any reference to the performer, as with record number 205, an anonymous cornet solo recorded in 1892, which is in the Library's collections. To make matters worse, some of the earliest advertisements and lists from early 1895 only occasionally name the performers. The Library's 1895 broadside List of Plates cites about eighty-six records, but only David C. Bangs, "the eminent, versatile elocutionist," is named as a performer.

The 1895 broadside also indicates that Berliner had been using the block numbering system for some time. Block numbering allows a company to classify its records through their catalog numbers, a system felt to be advantageous to both the company and the public. All band records, for instance, were numbered between 1 and 149, records by male singers had numbers between 150 and 199, and cornet and bugle recordings were numbered 200 through 249. As a block was filled by records, another block of numbers was opened farther ahead. The allowance of only fifty numbers for male singers proved to be not nearly enough, so the 500 to 549 block was opened. This too was filled so a larger block, 900 through 999, was set aside. This was evidently still not enough, so a very large block, 1600 through 1999, was used. Since women were used sparingly on early recordings (it was felt their voices did not record particularly well), their blocks were correspondingly small. However, it is interesting to see that there was some early attempt at separating sopranos from contraltos, while there is little or no evidence of separate blocks for male voices.

Titles seem to have been frequently withdrawn or remade. Poor sales may have been a factor, but the main reason for substitution of titles was probably the fact that the stamper made from the zinc master would not stand up after more than a certain number of pressings (only one stamper was made). This meant that a piece either had to be rerecorded or else dropped from the catalog and a different selection substituted for it. If a selection was selling well and the company wanted to retain it in the catalog, they would try to call back the recording artist for another go. If he was available, well and good. If, on the other hand, he was not available, then a different performer would be used. Many–perhaps hundreds–of Berliners were recorded at least twice by different artists. Some selections, such as the popular song "Put Me Off at Buffalo," were recorded by three different singers, but the records all bore the same catalog number. There are even examples of the same title with the same catalog number recorded by four different performers. If this is reason enough for discographers turning gray, consider the fact that each of the four performers might themselves have recorded the title on two or more occasions.

In order to control these remakes, Berliner devised a system of letter suffixes to the catalog number, namely the letters Z, Y, X, W, and V, with Z being the first remake and V the last. Occasionally one finds double letters such as ZZ or YY. It appears that after the fifth remake the letter series was begun again with double letters. This happens only with certain very popular titles. To further complicate matters, letter suffixes were also used with a slightly different meaning. Record 901X is La Marseillaise, first verse, while 901Y is La Marseillaise, second verse. Again, record 3409 is Last Rose of Summer and 3409Z is Last Rose of Summer with variations. In such instances as these, the letters are used to indicate variant recordings or some departure from the original, although in another sense they can be considered remakes.

In 1899, in order to keep better control over its recording operations, the company abandoned this cumbrous cataloging system. Instead it began an entirely new system in which every catalog or label number was prefixed by "0." Record 01, a recitation by Len Spencer of the Lord's Prayer and the Twenty-third Psalm, was recorded on April 8, 1899. The block numbering system was totally eliminated and from then on numbers were assigned more or less in consecutive order. To replace the block system of classification, a series of letters was stamped on the record which indicated the class into which it fell. For instance, all band records carried the letter A, spoken recordings carried the letter U, instrumental solos with piano had the letter G, instrumental ensembles had H, vocal ensembles had N, and so on. This system allowed the company to stop assigning catalog numbers on the basis of record content and instead assign them in the order in which the recordings were made. A slight disarrangement was caused by the practice of assigning a large group of numbers for a particular recording session or sessions. For instance, from June 6 through June 10, 1899, the Sousa Band recorded seventy-three selections which were issued as records 0175 through 0247. During that period other recordings were being made and had to be numbered either just before or just after the Sousa Band series. But on the whole, a list of these Berliners by their catalog numbers will also be a chronological list by their recording dates.

Original Recording of The Star Spangled Banner

By 1900, business was continuing to boom. Recording sessions were becoming lengthy and when a popular artist became available for work the company attempted to obtain as many recordings as possible. For instance, not only did the Sousa Band make the seventy-three consecutive recordings already mentioned, the trombone virtuoso Arthur Pryor made forty recordings in about two days, the visiting Banda Rossa of Italy made a group of thirty recordings, and the versatile Len Spencer made eighteen discs in possibly only one day. Another notable change from the early years was that frequent remakes were no longer needed because technology now allowed a much greater number of pressings to be made from a master. When a remake was called for, the company usually rerecorded the entire selection, either with the same artist or another, and issued the recording under a new catalog number. Only two or three examples of a remake published under the earlier catalog number are known in the "0" series.

The Berliner Gramophone Company of Philadelphia discontinued production in 1900. The last record known to have been issued was number 01304, Doan You Cry My Honey, sung by a famous early vocal group, the Haydn Quartet.