An Edison Gold Moulded Cylinder Record, circa 1904.
(Photo: Phonatic viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)
Want to hear history?
The internet archive compiled over 10,000 wax cylinder recordingsknown as phonograph cylindersfrom the earliest years of sound recordings.
An Edison Gold Moulded Cylinder Record, circa 1904. (Photo: Phonatic viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)
The wax cylinders recorded sound through engravings on their surfaces.
Companies began to mass produce cylinders that recorded songs and orchestras played live.
Those who happened to own their own recording equipment could even make home recordings.
Thomas Edison listening to a wax cylinder recording. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)
All these genres can be found in the UCSB archives.
Try exploringperky polkas,ragtime, and evenyodeling.
you’re able to listen to cylinders in Welsh or Yiddish, or specifically search for harmonica melodies.
Phonograph cylinders (in front) and disc records (back). (Photo: Jonathunder viahttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PhonographCylinders.JPG,(CC BY-SA 3.0)
Playlists will take you through Central Europe or the work of Black artists and composers.
Whatever you’re looking for, you will probably find it in the annals of audio history.
Long before disc records, recordings were engraved on wax cylinders which could be played on phonographs.
An Edison phonograph. (Photo: Norman Bruderhofer viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)
Thomas Edison listening to a wax cylinder recording.
Phonograph cylinders (in front) and disc records (back).
