Wow. Oldest known recording of an American voice...

[cairistiona]

This gave me chills.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9632924/Voice-recording-from-1878-played-again.html

And a more complete article but without video: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/10/25/1878-first-ever-captured-edison-audio-recording-unveiled/

I find history so fascinating!

Comments

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

I remember my parents getting a tape recorder in the 60's and been blow away by being able to hear myself. I still find it rather amazing that we can do this!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I know! I don't understand the nitty gritty of electricity and computers and recording sound at all (I'm convinced it's magic, done by tiny wizards who live in the big box on my desk that says 'Compaq', which I figure is Wizard for "commune of little wizards"), so I'm always completely blown away when I read that someone's found a recording from the 1800s. My brain just sort of explodes into, "Wait? What?? Someone made this when???"

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

Fascinating indeed.

I, my sister, and our cousins were also fascinated by our first tape recorder. We had lots of fun with it.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Somewhere amongst my possessions or perhaps my sister's or my parents' is a recording of my great-grandfather, made in the 1970s when he was 80+ years old. I barely remember him--to me he's just a the old man at family gatherings who scared me a little and who always wanted to shake my hand every time we visited. I would love to hear his voice as an adult without all the sky, scaredy-cat tendencies I had as a child. By all accounts he was really as sweet fellow. When I hear about old recordings like these, I wonder if there are family members still living who are thrilled to actually hear an ancestor's voice!