On November 29, 1877 Thomas Edison presented the first ever phonograph to the public - a device for recording and reproducing sound, and in the beginning of 1878 there were public demonstrations and phonographs’ exhibitions in the United States and Europe, which attracted the attention of the wide audience to the device. At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889, the exhibited phonographs aroused, as the newspapers of that time wrote, "Babylonian pandemonium". Every day, about one hundred thousand spectators were waiting patiently in lines to listen to hundred phonographs that were on display.

Phonograph was Edison's favorite brainchild. For almost 40 years, he repeatedly backtracked to it, introducing the new improvements for which he received 80 patents.

In February 2017, we celebrated the 170th anniversary of Thomas Edison birth. A film about the history of the phonograph creation, prepared for the inventor’s anniversary is posted on our website.

Interesting facts from Thomas Edison biography are published in the section “Authors”.

Various models of Edison phonographs and gramophones are presented in the Museum Collection. They are: the first phonograph, that is functioning on the base of covered with tin foil cylinders (1880); the first phonograph with  spring motor (1899); GEM phonographs (1900); Bell Business phonographs (1900), Business (1906), Bell, Home, Triumph, Suitcase, Standard, Fireside, Amberola, Concert, Diamond Discs gramophones; Bell Portable; as well as voice recorders, erasing machines, Edison system cylinders and gramophone records.

The thematic photo album dedicated to Thomas Edison's jubilee is posted in our Photo Gallery.