Putting Coinslot archive online

General vintage slot machine related topics.
cait001
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:33 am
Reaction score: 1
Location: Canada
Contact:

Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by cait001 »

Topic copied & split from Re: Mini Falls, Penny Falls - Site Admin.

Are there are archives anywhere of British coinop Magazines? Is anyone working on a project to digitize and share them?
I found an archive of "Coin Slot" newsletters, but that one was 1974+
I would like to go through these kinds of magazines and research to start getting a good idea of years of release.
pennymachines
Site Admin
Posts: 6638
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2002 12:12 am
Reaction score: 56
Location: The Black Country

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by pennymachines »

The Wikipedia Coinslot entry has confused two different publications. The archive you mention is of Coin Slot Magazine at the International Arcade Museum, an American publication which ran from 1974 and was aimed at collectors of vintage coin-op. The Coinslot (now Coinslot International) was a supplement of the World's Fair newspaper, a British industry trade publication established in 1904 serving travelling showmen and women, circuses, magic, traction engines and theme parks. This is the primary source for British slot machine historical research, but unfortunately is difficult to access. The World's Fair loaned microfiche copies of their publication to Paul Braithwaite when he was compiling Arcades & Slot Machines. It would be a great asset to us if it was made available online.

See also Slot Magazine History
cait001
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:33 am
Reaction score: 1
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by cait001 »

Is anyone involved in the efforts to digitize them? I loathe information being under lock-and-key, and will gladly pitch towards efforts to make them all publicly available online.
pennymachines
Site Admin
Posts: 6638
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2002 12:12 am
Reaction score: 56
Location: The Black Country

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by pennymachines »

After changing hands several times, Coinslot International is currently owned by GB Media Corporation Ltd., so the copyright to this old material presumably resides there. Absent a commercial incentive, I doubt they'll bear the considerable cost of digitising and publishing it online.
User avatar
dickywink
Posts: 156
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:50 pm
Reaction score: 4

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by dickywink »

World's Fair being available online is something I would like to see also, just like what has been done with Billboard.

The coin slot section I believe first became part of the World's Fair newspaper publication in the early fifties.

I understand there is an archive of World's Fair papers at Sheffield University, in the National Fairground and circus archive: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/nfca
Not sure if they have kept the coin slot sections though.
https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/a ... 0adcd50e25

All we need is a large format scanner and a lot of time :)

all the best ... Dicky
pennymachines
Site Admin
Posts: 6638
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2002 12:12 am
Reaction score: 56
Location: The Black Country

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by pennymachines »

dickywink wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 11:35 am
All we need is a large format scanner and a lot of time :)
Plus copyright permission...
cait001
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:33 am
Reaction score: 1
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by cait001 »

No way do we need to respect copyright of old magazines. Digitize that shit and make it free for all.
User avatar
badpenny
Forum Moderator
Posts: 7211
Joined: Thu May 05, 2005 12:41 pm
Reaction score: 25
Location: East Midlands

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by badpenny »

Why not?
Wasn't it the basis of our argument with that scrote who copied all of our members' work to sell on eBay?

BP
pennymachines
Site Admin
Posts: 6638
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2002 12:12 am
Reaction score: 56
Location: The Black Country

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by pennymachines »

Indeed, and GB Media Corporation Ltd. have the resources to take copyright infringers to court.

In fact the digital publication of this information presents three obstacles, which may not be insurmountable to somebody with the time and determination.

Copyright
I don't know whether in 2006, when GB Media acquired the Coinslot title, the purchase included copyright of the old paper editions of Coinslot. It's quite likely the owners of World's Fair retained this. Although the paper edition of World's Fair went into administration in December 1999, an online version of the magazine is still published by World's Fair Media Ltd.

So first one would need to establish where the copyright resides. Prior to 1951, copyright will have expired anyway, so much of what we're interested in could be made more readily available regardless, if you had access to the material.

Access to Documents
I don't know any individual who has such an archive. The British Library have an incomplete collection, and the University of Sheffield's Archives hold copies of every edition from the first in 1904. Prior to 1950, it's on 37 metres of microfilm (as loaned to Paul Braithwaite when he was writing Arcades and Slot Machines). The Coinslot only appeared sometime in the late '50s or early '60s, but coin slot related content and adverts predate this of course.

Mammoth Task
It's perhaps an indication of the work involved that the National Fairground and Circus Archive haven't digitised it. Thousands of fragile oversize pages would take weeks with a home scanner. According to this website, "digitizing microfilm is not difficult, but it’s not easy", but with suitable equipment would be much quicker than paper.
cait001
Posts: 348
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:33 am
Reaction score: 1
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by cait001 »

badpenny wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:13 pm Why not?
Wasn't it the basis of our argument with that scrote who copied all of our members' work to sell on eBay?

BP
That was someone profiting off the work.
Me and the people I run with do all of our scans and make them available free to everyone at the highest quality possible.
Trade magazines are essential for salvaging the lost bits of history we can before those documents, and those people involved, are gone for good. You may not agree with that, and want to adamantly respect copyright. That's fine, I'm not here to argue.

But if you can help make this information common and available for all, forever, join us over at Gaming Alexandria won't you? https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/
Preservation and research are the top priorities. Even if some stuff isn't yet made available publicly facing free to all, we need to ensure it's preserved for future researchers.
User avatar
brigham
Posts: 1180
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:37 pm
Reaction score: 2

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by brigham »

In which case I suggest a less high-handed approach might be adopted.
Perhaps an apology if copyright has inadvertently been breached, rather than a disrespectful dismissal.
daleman
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 3:33 pm
Reaction score: 0

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by daleman »

You may be interested to learn that Nic Costa, author of Automatic Pleasures, More Automatic Pleasures, and numerous articles in both the UK and US Coin Slot magazines has donated all his research materials (totalling some 16 banana boxes crammed with paper archives, photos, catalogues etc related to the coin op world from its inception through to the early 90s to the University of Canterbury Christchurch where over the coming months they will gradually be put online by the University. Anybody interested in the subject will be able to access it free of charge.
The establishment of the Nic Costa Archive will hopefully attract others to contribute items as well.
https://niccosta.org/
pennymachines
Site Admin
Posts: 6638
Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2002 12:12 am
Reaction score: 56
Location: The Black Country

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by pennymachines »

That's fantastic. Thanks for letting us know. !!THUMBSX2!!
I'm assuming it doesn’t include the World's Fair Coinslot archive.
13rebel
Posts: 588
Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 4:03 pm
Reaction score: 0

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by 13rebel »

Looking forward to it. :D
User avatar
badpenny
Forum Moderator
Posts: 7211
Joined: Thu May 05, 2005 12:41 pm
Reaction score: 25
Location: East Midlands

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by badpenny »

What a superb decision.
I guess it preserves and protects his life's work from the misguided out there that think it's ok to rudely copy then present low grade quality versions.
As if they're doing everyone a favour.
Well done Nic.

BP !!THUMBSX2!!
daleman
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 3:33 pm
Reaction score: 0

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by daleman »

Nic has asked me to thank you all for your complements. A state owned digital archive dedicated to our subject is long overdue
It doesn’t include the Coin slot digital archive- and apparently the existing World’s Fair digital archive also does not include the Coin slot section. The university does have a copy of the World’s Fair digital archive
The Nic Costa Archive amongst other things does contain a series handwritten notebooks with dates, listings and notes of salient coin op info published in the World’s Fair from its inception through to the 1960s as well as other coin op related journals as well as an interrelated card system listing and dating thousands of machines and hundreds of companies. It took a long time to compile and will all take a long time to upload –if ever-(this was in the pre computer days).
There are two salutary lessons in all of this:
1. Greed/ selfishness- a certain now dead well know collector had misappropriated for himself the wonderful document bequeathed to Sheffield by Dennison’s daughters, as a consequence Nic was unable to refer to this when writing his book and neither was anybody else. Luckily following publication of the story in Automatic Pleasures the rogue collector was shamed and the ‘missing’ work mysteriously reappeared and is now thankfully available for all.
2. Family/ accidents. Nic for decades had been lovingly keeping a tape-recording of an interview he did with Freddie Bolland many decades ago. A very rare treasure to hear the old man himself talking about his life. This too was donated to Canterbury...but horror sometime in the intervening years his young daughters secretly got hold of the recorder and recording and taped their mock interview over the top!!! There’s no guarantee that your family will have the same interest in the subject as yourself!!

However, at last there is now a public archive in the UK devoted to Coin Operated Machines which will be accessible to all free of charge. Hopefully others with donate and help it to grow.
And any of you who don’t have a copy just to remind you both of Nic’s books are still available from Amazon –happy reading!!!
User avatar
arrgee
Posts: 1589
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:56 am
Reaction score: 5
Location: North Wiltshire

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by arrgee »

That is very good news, hopefully others will be able to add their own valuable information/research to the Archive as well.
User avatar
treefrog
Posts: 4813
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2008 2:46 pm
Reaction score: 31
Location: Suffolk

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by treefrog »

However, at last there is now a public archive in the UK devoted to Coin Operated Machines which will be accessible to all free of charge. Hopefully others with donate and help it to grow.[/quote]

As a matter of interest, where is this public archive in the U.K. !PUZZLED! or are you referring to this site? Did Nic Costa move to New Zealand for this to be in Christchurch?

Well it would be good if this information ever gets finished and made available. Over the years you hear of so many who say they have so much history and documents that they will make available. Freddie Bailey comes to mind, and I should think some of the long the tooth collectors out there are sitting on pilesof info that has never been shared. :#: As mentioned many times, the collectors world people put a value on “their” source…….
User avatar
bryans fan
Posts: 822
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2003 10:15 pm
Reaction score: 7
Location: Somerset

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by bryans fan »

!!YIPPEE!!
Wonderful news!
User avatar
moonriver
Posts: 930
Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2013 12:56 am
Reaction score: 3

Re: Putting Coinslot archive online

Post by moonriver »

daleman wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 4:10 pm
1. Greed/ selfishness- a certain now dead well know collector had misappropriated for himself the wonderful document bequeathed to Sheffield by Dennison’s daughters, as a consequence Nic was unable to refer to this when writing his book and neither was anybody else. Luckily following publication of the story in Automatic Pleasures the rogue collector was shamed and the ‘missing’ work mysteriously reappeared and is now thankfully available for all.
The Dennison diary was bequeathed to Leeds Museums by the daughters and is still held at Abbey House Museum where it is not on public display.
The diary is quite small and unassuming from the outside and easy to see how it could have been overlooked in plain sight within bookcases for a time. The Museum's line is that the diary has always been there.
Abbey House Museum has some of the daughter's best working models on operational display.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests