Document was established in 1986 by
Johnny Parth, the former owner of Roots Records, in Austria to make previously unreleased
blues and
gospel records from before the
1942–44 musicians' strike available on a number of European labels. In 1990, Parth felt obliged to switch production from LP to CD. With this change, he consolidated the catalogue into complete reissues in chronological order, increasingly on the Document label as other label names were dropped. The new policy was to reissue as many as possible of the recordings listed in the book,
Blues and Gospel Records: 1890–1943. The scope was expanded to include
bluegrass,
spirituals,
jazz, and other rural American
genres (collectively known as
roots music), made between 1900 and 1945. Since 2000 it has been owned by Gary and Gillian Atkinson and is based in
Newton Stewart, Scotland. Document has the exclusive rights to a great deal of unreleased music and other audio media produced by
Edison Records between 1914 and 1929. ==Artists==