123 Year Old Recording Recovered From Ancient Doll

A twelve second recording of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star from the first-ever talking doll could also be the first-ever commercial recording, historians are saying.

The recently recovered recording, captured on a ring-shaped cylinder phonograph, was produced for Thomas Edison’s failed talking-doll business venture in 1888.

The recording eventually found its way to Jerry Fabris, museum curator of the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, who at first thought that the damaged, 123-year-old artifact was condemned to eternal silence.

However, after attending a presentation on new 3-D scanning technology, Fabris brought the tin recording to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where an engineer named Carl Haber and another scientist successfully resurrected the audio.

“That was really exciting,” Fabris said, of “arguably the first commercial recording, the earliest documented example of anyone hiring someone to make records, to perform on records, that would then be sold.”

Patrick Feaster, a historian of the early phonograph, explained that the recovered recording is significant for multiple reasons.

“This was the very first case of a professional recording for an audience – before it had really been done only for the novelty,” said Feaster, who then added, “This is the first instance of someone doing it to earn some money, and that’s a pretty big first.”

While admitting that the discovery was a breakthrough, Edison historian Paul Israel noted that the invention itself, was a commercial bust.

“While it was a very clever idea, both the doll and the recording were a bit too fragile and complicated for children to use,” Israel explained. “You can imagine that the women making these recordings had to shout into the cylinder — and that comes across in the [recovered audio].”

To hear the recording for yourself – it’s honestly a little creepy – head over to the NPS website.

via CNN