phonograph cylinder and box
notes: label: Description
content: This is an experimental sound recording made on November 14,1889. William J. Hammer, who had managed Thomas Edison’s phonograph display at the Paris World’s Fair that year, recorded it to accompany a free balloon ride he took when the fair ended.
label: Description
content: During the ride, Hammer reportedly dropped a dozen sealed boxes with recordings attached to parachutes. He imagined this technique could be used for military surveillance: “an officer making observations from a military balloon could dictate such observations to a small phonograph attached to his side.” In fact, Edison had just completed a miniature instrument he called “the military phonograph."
label: Description
content: This is one of those records, which may have been recorded at the moment of launch. It is smaller than the standard record size and comes with a custom box, roughly a three-inch cube. On the box, one inscription reads “Sent from my free balloon November 14, 1889 Paris from W.J.H,” and another instructs if found, please return to William J. Hammer at the address of his Paris hotel.
label: Description
content: There is a very large crack in this cylinder, so it was a challenge to recover sound from it. A rough transcript:
label: Description
content: “…an Edison phonograph […] American industrial nation, Paris Exposition 1889. Are you ready? Do not go yet. Bonjour, messieurs et mesdames. […] Into the […] phonograph […] everybody on the ropes. Lift off! […]”
label: Description
content: Download link, Interplanetary File System (IPFS) content identifier (CID): <a href="https://w3s.link/ipfs/bafybeic6cdwczr4f33lwyyax4rtz6hl7zgyoyu65iiitmkt3qkcpvzghyy">https://w3s.link/ipfs/bafybeic6cdwczr4f33lwyyax4rtz6hl7zgyoyu65iiitmkt3qkcpvzghyy</a>
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/what-did-1889-sound">What did 1889 sound like?</a>
label: Description
content: Stephens CE. “Speculative Imaginations”: Listening to 1889, Then and Now. The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 2023;22(4):452-474. doi:10.1017/S1537781423000245
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanisms
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: International Business Machines Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: ME.320554
label: accession number
content: 241402
label: catalog number
content: 320554
objectType: label: Object Name
content: phonograph cylinder
label: Object Name
content: phonograph cylinder and box
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall, cylinder: 1 1/2 in x 2 1/4 in; 3.81 cm x 5.715 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, box: 2 7/8 in x 2 3/4 in x 1 3/4 in; 7.3025 cm x 6.985 cm x 4.445 cm