Aug. 12, 1877, is the date popularly given for Thomas Alva Edison’s completion of the model for the first phonograph, a device that recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders.

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 ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. This is a stock certificate for 50 ...

This anthology assembles primary documents chronicling the development of the phonograph, talking pictures, and the radio. These three sound technologies shaped Americans' relation to music from the ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - October 17, 1888. Thomas Edison files a patent for the optical phonograph, a device capable of recording and replaying sound for the first time, producing a moving picture.

Designated at the present sites of Edison's three research laboratories: the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Florida, on May 25, 2014; at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West ...