The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company of Duboque, Iowa, was formed in 1845 and was a piano manufacturer. In 1916, the first Brunswick records were announced. They were vertical-cut and obviously sold very poorly as they are hardly ever seen nowadays.

The second attempt at record-production was much more successful. This was in 1920 and the record were the more standard needle-cut variety. The series started at 2000 (see first label example). The celebrity series (5000-range numbers) was a similar design with a violet background. The recording quality was very good during the acoustic period.

The label design changed to the more familiar one shown right (2nd picture) in about 1924-25. Soon after, Brunswick announced their new electrical recording system known as "light-ray". To start with it was dreadful; a thin pinched sound with disturbing background noises. Within a few months, the problems were iron out and the electrical recordings were then excellent.

In the late 1920s, like most record companies in America, Brunswick were in financial difficulties and subsequently sold out to Warner Brothers in April 1930.  Despite Warners signing up of well-known film stars to make records, the record company couldn't survive and in December 1931 it was sold once again, this time to the American Record Company, who had already swallowed up many other record companies in a bid to keep afloat.  Brunswick became ARC's premier label until being phased out in 1940, though  In 1944 Decca, who now owned the name, produced a series of jazz-reissues in an 80000 series.