{"id":4016,"date":"2016-02-12T16:11:12","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T16:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/?p=4016"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:56:15","slug":"happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"246\" src=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg\" alt=\"Image of Edison Record After Toiling Cometh Rest by Betsy Lane\" class=\"wp-image-5776\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>This past week marks Thomas Edison&#8217;s 169th birthday!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the very first device for recording and playing back sound, in 1877. Early machines were sold to entrepreneurs who made a living out of traveling around the country giving &#8220;phonograph concerts&#8221; and demonstrating the device for a fee at fairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here at the Recorded Sound Archives, we have a collection of over 70 <a href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/edison-records\"><strong>Edison Records<\/strong><\/a> which can be listened to online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To listen or learn more about Edison Records, <a href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/edison-records\"><strong>click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Some songs may only be available as snippets due to US Copyright laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>These items are noted in the player with the words <strong>(Research Station)<\/strong> and only allow for 45 seconds snippets to be played&nbsp;to give you a sense of what that recording originally sounded like. Full access is available through the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/rs\">RSA\u2019s Research Station<\/a><\/strong> access is limited to educators, students and serious researchers.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past week marks Thomas Edison&#8217;s 169th birthday! Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, in 1877 today he would of been celebrating his 169th birthday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[427,1,414],"tags":[541,544,542,543],"class_list":["post-4016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digital-access","category-events-general-interest","category-vintage-collection","tag-edison-records","tag-the-wizard-of-menlo-park","tag-thomas-edison","tag-thomas-edison-birthday"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison! - Recorded Sound Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Celebrate Thomas Edison\u2019s 169th birthday and explore early phonograph and historic Edison recordings from the Recorded Sound Archives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison! - Recorded Sound Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Celebrate Thomas Edison\u2019s 169th birthday and explore early phonograph and historic Edison recordings from the Recorded Sound Archives.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Recorded Sound Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-12T16:11:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-03T15:56:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"246\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Recorded Sound Archives\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Recorded Sound Archives\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/\",\"name\":\"Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison! - Recorded Sound Archives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-12T16:11:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-03T15:56:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/294be88a20add4af24b618d63b9f59d7\"},\"description\":\"Celebrate Thomas Edison\u2019s 169th birthday and explore early phonograph and historic Edison recordings from the Recorded Sound Archives.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Recorded Sound Archives\",\"description\":\"Florida Atlantic University Libraries\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/294be88a20add4af24b618d63b9f59d7\",\"name\":\"Recorded Sound Archives\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca0be8a154e625f6e8b045156f95af29?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca0be8a154e625f6e8b045156f95af29?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Recorded Sound Archives\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/author\/recorded-sound-archives\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison! - Recorded Sound Archives","description":"Celebrate Thomas Edison\u2019s 169th birthday and explore early phonograph and historic Edison recordings from the Recorded Sound Archives.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison! - Recorded Sound Archives","og_description":"Celebrate Thomas Edison\u2019s 169th birthday and explore early phonograph and historic Edison recordings from the Recorded Sound Archives.","og_url":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/","og_site_name":"Recorded Sound Archives","article_published_time":"2016-02-12T16:11:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-03T15:56:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":250,"height":246,"url":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Recorded Sound Archives","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Recorded Sound Archives","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/","url":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/","name":"Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison! - Recorded Sound Archives","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg","datePublished":"2016-02-12T16:11:12+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-03T15:56:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/294be88a20add4af24b618d63b9f59d7"},"description":"Celebrate Thomas Edison\u2019s 169th birthday and explore early phonograph and historic Edison recordings from the Recorded Sound Archives.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/image.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/happy-169th-birthday-thomas-edison\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Happy 169th Birthday Thomas Edison!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/","name":"Recorded Sound Archives","description":"Florida Atlantic University Libraries","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/294be88a20add4af24b618d63b9f59d7","name":"Recorded Sound Archives","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca0be8a154e625f6e8b045156f95af29?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca0be8a154e625f6e8b045156f95af29?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Recorded Sound Archives"},"url":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/author\/recorded-sound-archives\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4016"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5777,"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions\/5777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}