Early sound recording disk

Hear My Voice

Alexander Graham Bell and the Origins of Recorded Sound

Closed January 24, 2016
Online

Alexander Graham Bell is best remembered as the inventor of the telephone, but he and his associates were also instrumental in the development of sound recording at his Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C. This exhibition featured documents, recordings, laboratory notes, and apparatus from the Volta Laboratory dating from the 1880s. Visitors learned about the early history of sound recording in the United States and heard some of the earliest sound recordings ever made. The recordings are made audible through a 21st century sound recovery technique developed by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory staff in partnership with the Library of Congress and the Museum.

Visit the exhibition website

Video: "Alexander Graham Bell's Voice, Recorded April 15, 1885" - watch on YouTube.