To Edison from Colonel Gouraud, introducing Mr. Gladstone-
"The phonograph's salutation"
Spoken by: William E. Gladstone, British Prime Minister
Introduction spoken by: George Gouraud
Recording date: December 18, 1888
Location: London, England
Record format: Edison Blue Amberol cylinder (molded from an Edison yellow paraffine cylinder) (unissued)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39852
Big Ben clock tower of Westminster -
striking half past 10, quarter to 11, and 11 o'clock
Recording date: July 16, 1890
Location: Westminster, London, England
Recorded by: Miss Ferguson and Graham Hope, (for George Gouraud)
Record format: Edison brown wax cylinder (unissued)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39839
Trumpeter Landfrey's Charge of the Light Brigade
Played by: Trumpeter Landfrey
Recording date: August 2, 1890
Location: London, England
Record format: Edison brown wax cylinder (unissued)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39848
** Historical note: Landfrey was a bugler in the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava, October 25, 1854, of the Crimean War. On this recording Landfrey plays a trumpet that was used at the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815, of the Napoleonic Wars.
Words of welcome
Spoken by: Garrett A. Hobart, Vice President of the United States
Recorded for the opening of the Electrical Exposition of New York City.
Recording date: May 1, 1898
Location: Washington, DC
Record format: Edison brown wax cylinder (unissued)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39849
The liver complaint story
Spoken by: Thomas A. Edison, inventor
Recording date: 1906
Record format: Edison Blue Amberol cylinder (unissued)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39838
The railroad question
Spoken by: William Jennings Bryan, Democratic Party candidate for U.S. President
Recording date: May 1908
Location: Bryan's home in Lincoln, Nebraska
Record format: Edison Gold Moulded cylinder
Release number: 9916 (11)
Release date: June 1908
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 37849
The rights of labor
Spoken by: William H. Taft, Republican Party candidate for U.S. President
Recording date: August 3, 1908
Location: the Homestead Hotel of Hot Springs, Virginia
Record format: Edison Gold Moulded cylinder
Release number: 9999
Release date: September 1908
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39851
Electricity and progress
Spoken by: Thomas A. Edison, inventor
Recorded for the opening of the New York Electrical Show, October 3, 1908.
Record format: Edison Gold Moulded cylinder (unissued)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39835
Tolstoy's plower story
Spoken by: John Wanamaker, merchant
Recording date: November 5, 1908
Record format: Edison brown wax cylinder (unissued)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39834
El Presidente Diaz al Señor Edison
Spoken by: Porfirio Diaz, President of the Republic of Mexico
Location: Mexico
Recording date: c. August 1909
Record format: Edison Gold Moulded cylinder
Release number: 20315
Release date: December 1909
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39847
My South Polar expedition
Spoken by: Lt. Ernest H. Shackleton, explorer
Recording date: March 30, 1910
Record format: Edison Amberol cylinder
Release number: 4M- 473
Release date: July 1910
{This recording is available here courtesy of the Ward Marston collection.}
The right of the people to rule
Spoken by: Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive Party candidate for U.S. President
Recording date: c. August 1912
Location: Sagamore Hill (Roosevelt's home) in Oyster Bay, New York
Record format: Edison Blue Amberol cylinder
Release number: 3707
Release date: September 1912
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 39850
Sec. of Navy Daniels. Edison Lab. Oct. 10, 1914
Spoken by: Josephus Daniels, United States Secretary of the Navy
Remarks during his visit at the Edison Laboratory, West Orange, New Jersey.
Recording date: October 10, 1914
Record format: white color Edison Blue Amberol cylinder record (unissued)
Matrix number: 12234-1
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 5060
Mrs. Jos. Daniels. Edison Lab. Oct. 10, 1914.
Spoken by: Addie Worth Bagley Daniels
Remarks during her visit at the Edison Laboratory, West Orange, New Jersey.
Recording date: October 10, 1914
Record format: white color Edison Blue Amberol cylinder record (unissued)
Matrix number: 12233-1
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 5061
Visit of General Nelson A. Miles 12-28-1914
Spoken by: General Nelson A. Miles
Remarks during his visit at the Edison Laboratory, West Orange, New Jersey.
Recording date: December 28, 1914
Record format: white color Edison Blue Amberol cylinder record (unissued)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 5062
** Historical note: Nelson A. Miles was a Major General of Volunteers for the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1886 he led the defeat of Apache leader Geronimo. He was Commander of United States Army during the Spanish-American War.
Transcontinental telephone address to Thomas A. Edison
Spoken by: Miller Reese Hutchinson, Chief Engineer, Engineering Department, Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated.
Recording date: c. October 17, 1915
Record format: Edison Diamond Disc celluloid sub-master (unissued)
Matrix number: 4199-C-2 (2)
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 584
** Historical note: On October 21, 1915, a group of Thomas Edison's friends and business associates played this recording in the library of the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey and transmitted it to Edison at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California via the American Telephone and Telegraph Company's newly completed transcontinental telephone line.
Mary had a little lamb
Spoken by: Thomas A. Edison, inventor
Recording date: August 12, 1927, Golden Jubilee of the Phonograph ceremony
Location: Glenmont (Edison's home), West Orange, New Jersey
Source: TENHP 16mm motion picture film E-156-2-3 "Snapshots of Mr. Edison."
** Historical note: In this recording Edison demonstrates how in 1877 he made the first record on his tinfoil phonograph. The original 1877 recording was not saved and no longer exists.
Discussion on Edison's "Monoid" theory.
Spoken by: Theodore M. Edison, son of Thomas A. Edison
Recording date: July 26, 1970
Location: Glenmont (Edison's home), 2nd floor library, West Orange, New Jersey.
Recording format: 1/4-inch analog tape reel
ENHS Oral History Tape number 43 (excerpt)
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