Thomas Edison National Historical Park Announces Release of Thousands of Rare Edison Disc Recordings Online
This news story about the release of thousands of rare Edison disc sound recordings is based on a February 28, 2022, National Park Service press release. You can read the original release here.
Today, a National Park Service announcement will be music to the ears of audiophiles and music historians all across the world.
In a news statement, Thomas Edison National Historical Park announced the release of no fewer than 2,400 historic Edison disc sound recordings.
These invaluable recordings were digitized and made available online in cooperation with the University of California, Santa Barbara Library Special Research Collections.
You can find the recordings on the Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) website at adp.library.ucsb.edu.
The NPS said that the “recordings from Thomas Edison National Historical Park include many rarities, including unissued test pressings.”
Thousands of Rare Edison Disc Sound Recordings Released Online
The disc records originate from phonograph inventor Thomas Edison’s own collection preserved at Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
They contain music recorded by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. in New York City and European cities from 1910 through 1929.
“Edison discs document a fascinating era of performance and technology that is of interest to music historians and audiophiles still today,” said Jerry Fabris, Museum Curator at Thomas Edison National Historical Park.
According to David Seubert, Curator of the Performing Arts Collection at UCSB, who heads the DAHR, “sharing these historically important recordings with the public perfectly fits the mission of both the University of California and the National Park Service. UCSB was pleased to be able to join in this important partnership to preserve our history.”
The cooperative effort to make Edison disc recordings available to the public at no cost began in 2012 when Thomas Edison National Historical Park shared its catalog database of Edison disc textual information with UCSB Library.
Additionally, Thomas Edison National Historical Park also shared copies of historic hand-written recording ledgers and studio cashbooks.
Using funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, data from the national historical park 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 Thomas Edison National Historical Park, the DAHR now has a total of more than 7,400 Edison disc recordings available for listening.
The Discography of American Historical Recordings
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era.
It is part of the American Discography Project (ADP)—an initiative of the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Packard Humanities Institute that is edited by a team of researchers based at the UCSB Library.
DAHR currently includes information on more than 327,000 master recordings (matrixes) made by Victor, Columbia, OKeh, Berliner, Edison, Zonophone, Leeds & Catlin, Brunswick, and Decca.
The ADP is also a partner with the Library of Congress National Jukebox project and provides most of the cataloging data used in the Jukebox.
As a result of this partnership, 11,000 recordings made by Victor and Columbia between 1900 and 1925 can be streamed online. An additional 35,000 masters from Columbia, Okeh, Zonophone and Edison are also available via UCSB’s streaming player or embedded YouTube links.
Visit DAHR online at https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/.
Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Thomas Edison National Historical Park is a National Park Service site dedicated to promoting an international understanding and appreciation of the life and extraordinary achievements of Thomas Alva Edison.
It does so by preserving, protecting, and interpreting the park’s extensive historic artifact and archive collections at the Edison Laboratory Complex and Glenmont, the Edison family estate.
The Visitor Center is located at 211 Main Street in West Orange, New Jersey. The Laboratory Complex, Glenmont Mansion and its grounds are currently closed to the public and will reopen on March 12, 2022.
Schools and organized groups may make reservations for virtual programming. Call 973-736-0550 ext. 26 Wednesday through Sunday for more information or visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/edis.
