The label was started in 1956 by Michael Stillman of Leeds Music and Rose Rubin. Monitor was created to focus on
classical and
folk. The first issues were from the Soviet Union featuring works by
Bach and
Prokofiev performed by
Leonid Kogan and
Sviatoslav Richter. Monitor Records were available through the
Diners Club record club from 1959 to 1961, an arrangement made out of "desperation" by Monitor management according to Rubin. Monitor releases first became available on
reel-to-reel tapes in 1963 through an agreement with Musictapes, Inc. That year Monitor became distributed worldwide through Transglobal Music. In 1966, Monitor began a budget series called "Monitor Collectors Series". At introduction, the series consisted of more than one-hundred releases. In 1967, Monitor became the first label to release music in North America by composer
Josef Mysliveček. In 1968, the label attempted to make an entry into the popular music field when they released singles and an album by
The Freeborne. In 1999, Rubin and Stillman donated the label and its catalog to
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Although Folkways was already strong in most folk music, it felt that the Monitor acquisition filled their gap in
belly dance music. ==Artists==