I happen to have data on various shellac releases from the 20s to the 50s. Sometimes I find the release dates, sometimes not.
Now I have a question that boggles my mind: Yesterday I added some polish compilations and found a source on one of the cassettes that said “released prior to 1980”. I also found a catalogue for shellacs from 1946 of one label; that would mean that every releases I couldn’t find a date for would be released 1946 latest.
Do you think it’s better to insert 1979 and 1946 in those cases than to leave it open?
I would like circa added, but more thought and maybe rules need to be in place to use it. I have seen summer, fall and winter, date ranges and a specific day. I need to look at the proposal more.
Even if we had the ‘circa’ feature, I wouldn’t use “circa 1946” if all we know is it was 1946 or earlier. That could mean something that was actually released in 1929 gets marked as “circa 1946” which seems misleading.