American Graphophone Company

Record company founded in 1887 and initially was licensed by the Volta Graphophone Company to manufacture Bell-Tainter cylinder phonographs. At the time a separate entity, Columbia Phonograph Co. was incorporated by Edward Easton and Ronald F. Cromelin on January 15, 1889 to handle sales of American Graphophone Company products in Washington D.C., Delaware and Maryland. Under Easton's leadership, the American Graphophone Company and the Columbia Phonograph Co. were consolidated in 1894, with the former company handling research and manufacturing and the latter handling marketing, sales and distribution. The merged company was called, Columbia Phonograph Company Gen'l. The American Graphophone Company was the manufacturer of Columbia products until it was reorganized in 1916 as the Columbia Graphophone Manufacturing Company. Therefore, the American Graphophone and Columbia Phonograph Companies were inextricably linked.