Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Exhibits Bell's Documents, Early Recordings

The National Museum of American History is hosting a series of programs this year about American innovation, and the first exhibit is focused on early sound recording.

Beginning this week, recordings and documents that inventor Alexander Graham Bell delivered to the Smithsonian are going on display for the first time. The museum holds some of the earliest audio recordings made in the 1880s and will show some of the discs.

Bell made the experimental recordings at his Volta Laboratory in Washington. Scientists played back some of Bell's early recordings for the first time in 2011 using new technology that can reads the grooves in the aging wax disc. Experts identified Bell's voice on one recording in 2013.

The exhibit, "Hear My Voice,'' will be open through October.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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