The founder of New Phonograph Filip Šír visited the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago on May 2 – 4, 2019 during his journey in the USA. As the website of the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago informs, Filip Šír „visited the historical Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago which was established mainly by immigrants from Czech lands and other Eastern European countries at the end of 19th century and beginning of the 20th century and where mostly immigrants of Mexican origin are living now. At the 18th Street in Pilsen, Mr. Šír visited houses where one of the oldest gramophone and phonograph records‘ stores of Mr. Joseph Jiráň, Frank Prošek and Tomáš Košatka, established around 1910, were located.”
As a part of his visit, Filip Šír also presented the book Krajané za velkou louží/Bohemia on Records at the T.G. Masaryk Czech School in Chicago. The publication „Bohemia on Records“ offers readers the first comprehensive overview of recordings produced by American gramophone companies for a growing community of Czech immigrants in the US during the first half of the twentieth century.
Read more about the publication and Filip Šír’s Chicago visit here.