Steinweiss in 1947
When Alexander Steinweiss pitched the idea of using original art on covers used to house vinyl records back in 1937, it revolutionized Columbia Records. Sales soared, and other companies followed suit. Album covers are all but dead now, miniaturized into jewel cases for CDs (whose death knell peals with the advent of MP3s), but some of us still relish the way they telegraphed the aural riches nestled inside those cardboard sleeves (fess up, you know you’ve bought albums with nothing to go on except the cover). Check out more on Steinweiss here; read his obit in the New York Times. RIP, and thanks…