Edison’s Wax Cylinders

When an amateur singer crosses paths with Thomas Edison in 1899, the resulting recordings are a glimpse into the world of fin de siècle America.

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Many thanks to the University of California, Santa Barbara Library, which has made these amazing recordings available through a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 2.5 License.

You can explore UCSB's collection of wax cylinder recordings here. And you can donate to the upkeep of these recordings here.

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