Treasure Trove Of Thomas Edison Sound Recordings Now Online

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Are you fascinated with famed New Jersey inventor Thomas Edison? You can now listen to a treasure trove of historic disc sound recordings from the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” which were recently made available online.

Earlier this month, Thomas Edison National Historical Park (TENHP) in West Orange announced the release of 2,400 historic Edison disc sound recordings, digitized and made available online in cooperation with the University of California, Santa Barbara Library Special Research Collections on their Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) website at adp.library.ucsb.edu.

The disc records originate from Edison’s own collection preserved at TEHNP, and contain music recorded by Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated in New York City and European cities from 1910 through 1929. The recordings include many rarities, including unissued test pressings, spokespeople with the TENHP said.

According to the TENHP:

“The cooperative effort to make Edison disc recordings available to the public at no cost began in 2012 when TENHP shared its catalog database of Edison disc textual information with UCSB Library. TEHNP also shared copies of historic hand-written recording ledgers and studio cashbooks. Using funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, data from TENHP formed the basis from which researchers at UCSB Library developed the DAHR’s complete online discography of Edison disc recordings. The DAHR documents more than 14,000 Edison recording sessions that resulted in more than 8,000 published two-sided discs. With the digitized audio recordings from TENHP, the DAHR now has a total of more than 7,400 Edison disc recordings available for listening.”

“Edison discs document a fascinating era of performance and technology that is of interest to music historians and audiophiles still today,” museum curator Jerry Fabris said.

“Sharing these historically important recordings with the public perfectly fits the mission of both the University of California and the National Park Service,” said David Seubert, curator of the Performing Arts Collection at UCSB, who heads the DAHR.

“The UCSB was pleased to be able to join in this important partnership to preserve our history,” Seubert said.

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Sign up for Patch email newsletters. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Don’t forget to visit the Patch West Orange Facebook page.