Just the other day, I heard one of the earliest popular recorded sambas, Donga’s “Pelo Telefone,” from 1916 and released on an Edison talking record, probably a wax cylinder. A few years later the ...

Prior to Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph in 1877, the world had no means of recording the human voice; and the enjoyment of prerecorded music was limited to the player piano. Edison was ...

Phonograph Inventor Thomas Alva Edison has a lot to answer for—as the most casual record-shop browser can testify. Sir Arthur Sullivan once declared: “I am terrified at the thought that so much ...

In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the first device to ever record and play back sound. Speaking into a mouthpiece caused a metal stylus attached to a diaphragm to move up and down. The stylus made ...

In 1877, now 30, Edison spoke the first two lines of “Mary had a little lamb” into the device and played it back using a hand crank. He had just invented what he called the Edison Speaking Phonograph.

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. Photograph of Thomas Alva Edison's ...