Image description: National Museum of American History curator Carlene Stephens examines a glass disc recording that was made in Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Lab. The disc contains the audio of a male voice repeating “Mary had a little lamb” twice.
In December, scholars recovered sound from this and other recordings made over 100 years ago. Until now, the technology to listen to the recordings without damaging the objects was not available. Learn more about how they recovered the audio.
Photo by Rich Strauss, Smithsonian Institution
