The Smithsonian Will Restore Hundreds of the World’s Oldest Sound Recordings

The Smithsonian Will Restore Hundreds of the World’s Oldest Sound Recordings
They were made by Alexander Graham Bell and his fellow researchers between 1881 and 1892

“Over the three-year duration of this remarkable project, ‘Hearing History: Recovering Sound from Alexander Graham Bell’s Experimental Records,’ we will preserve and make accessible for the first time about 300 recordings that have been in the museum’s collections for over a century, unheard by anyone,” says Anthea M. Hartig, the museum’s Elizabeth MacMillan director, in a statement. The new initiative will begin in the fall.