Sound Recording, Edison, Tin Foil: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a recording on a strip of tinfoil made on an Edison phonograph. The recording date is unknown. According to a letter in the accession file, Edison recalled lending a phonograph to the donor’s uncle in 1878. The donor’s uncle was, most likely, Dr. John Call Dalton, a prominent physiologist at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, whom Edison consulted about his growing deafness in March 1878.

Sound was recovered from this recording in 2013. Content on sound file is an indistinct male voice talking. Possibly “…"John A Sutherland[?]" and " Charles H. Dalton [?]” and “Yours truly [?]."

Materials, dates and provenance

• maker: Edison, Thomas A.
• Object Name: tin foil recording
• Object Name: tin foil phonograph record
• Object Name: Edison tin foil phonograph record
• Object Name: phonorecord, tin foil
• Object Name: Tin foil sound recording
• Physical Description: tinfoil (overall material)
• Measurements: overall - tin foil: 18 in x 2 1/8 in; 45.72 cm x 5.3975 cm
• Measurements: overall - mounting: 19 3/4 in x 3 3/4 in; 50.165 cm x 9.525 cm
• ID Number: ME.308131
• catalog number: 308131
• accession number: 70320
• Credit Line: H. R. Dalton
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.