Scranton Button Company

Originally founded in 1885. the company originally manufactured buttons, insulators, and other molded goods. They first pressed records around 1916, drawing on the expertise of former Auburn Button Works personnel. One of their first customers was the Emerson Phonograph Company Inc.. An early hit that was pressed at Scranton was the well known World War I song "Over There". By 1922, Scranton was pressing cheap National Music Lovers discs and they bought a large stake in that company to ensure continued lucrative business. In June, 1922 Scranton purchased a majority interest in the Regal Record Company, Inc.. The Regal Record Company, Inc., together with the Independent Recording Laboratories, produced records that were pressed by the Scranton Button Company and marketed through the Plaza Music Company. By the end of summer 1922, this conglomeration of four legally separate entities was poised to enter the cheap, dime-store record market on a large scale. As the popularity of these records increased throughout the 1920s, they became the Scranton Record Company, producing records for Brunswick and other labels. Records pressed here can be identified by observing an "Ƨ" stamped in the runout.