Editing Phonograph (section)

=== Oldest surviving recordings ===
[[File:Early phonograph, Deaf Smith County Museum, Hereford, TX IMG 4857.JPG|thumb|Early phonograph at Deaf Smith County Historical Museum in [[Hereford, Texas|Hereford]], [[Texas]]|alt=]]
[[Frank Lambert (inventor)|Lambert]]'s [[lead]] cylinder recording for an experimental talking clock is often identified as the oldest surviving playable sound recording,<ref>[http://www.tinfoil.com/cm-0101.htm "Experimental Talking Clock"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219131721/http://www.tinfoil.com/cm-0101.htm |date=2007-02-19 }} recording at Tinfoil.com, URL accessed August 14, 2006</ref>
although the evidence advanced for its early date is controversial.<ref>Aaron Cramer, Tim Fabrizio, and George Paul, "A Dialogue on 'The Oldest Playable Recording,'" ''ARSC Journal'' 33:1 (Spring 2002), 77–84; Patrick Feaster and Stephan Puille, "Dialogue on 'The Oldest Playable Recording' (continued), ''ARSC Journal'' 33:2 (Fall 2002), 237–242.</ref>
Wax [[phonograph cylinder]] recordings of [[Handel]]'s choral music made on June 29, 1888, at [[The Crystal Palace]] in London were thought to be the oldest-known surviving musical recordings,<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/very-early-recorded-sound.htm "Very Early Recorded Sound"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228135836/http://www.nps.gov/edis/photosmultimedia/very-early-recorded-sound.htm |date=2014-02-28 }} U.S. [[National Park Service]], URL accessed August 14, 2006</ref> until the recent playback by a group of American historians of a [[phonautograph]] recording<!-- "waveform" refers to an individual cycle of the fundamental or dominant frequency and is not a valid alternative for editors allergic to calling a phonautogram "a recording" --> of ''[[Au clair de la lune]]''<!-- words in French titles not capitalized as in English --> recorded on April 9, 1860.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rosen |first=Jody |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/27soun.html |title=Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2008-03-27 |access-date=2011-10-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903192854/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/27soun.html |archive-date=2011-09-03 }}</ref>

The 1860 phonautogram had not until then been played, as it was only a transcription of sound waves into graphic form on paper for visual study. Recently developed optical scanning and image processing techniques have given new life to early recordings by making it possible to play unusually delicate or physically unplayable media without physical contact.<ref>{{cite news|last=Eichler|first=Jeremy|title=Technology saves echoes of past from silence|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2014/04/05/pushing-back-silence-new-technology-and-battle-save-old-recordings/8ccQ3EPHdc7TI6GnxK8QtM/story.html|access-date=7 April 2014|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=6 April 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407233314/http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2014/04/05/pushing-back-silence-new-technology-and-battle-save-old-recordings/8ccQ3EPHdc7TI6GnxK8QtM/story.html|archive-date=7 April 2014}}</ref>

A recording made on a sheet of tinfoil at an 1878 demonstration of Edison's phonograph in St. Louis, Missouri, has been played back by optical scanning and digital analysis. A few other early tinfoil recordings are known to survive, including a slightly earlier one that is believed to preserve the voice of U.S. President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]], but as of May 2014 they have not yet been scanned.{{clarify|reason=Update needed as of 2022|date=April 2022}} These antique tinfoil recordings, which have typically been stored folded, are too fragile to be played back with a stylus without seriously damaging them. Edison's 1877 tinfoil recording of ''Mary Had a Little Lamb'', not preserved, has been called the first instance of [[audiobook|recorded verse]]<!-- ignores 1860 phonautograph recording of some lines from "Aminta" -->.<ref name=rubery>{{cite book |title=Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies |editor=Matthew Rubery |year=2011 |chapter=Introduction |pages=1–21 |isbn=978-0-415-88352-8 |publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the phonograph, Edison recounted reciting ''Mary Had a Little Lamb'' to test his first machine. The 1927 event was filmed by an early [[sound-on-film]] [[newsreel]] camera, and an audio clip from that film's soundtrack is sometimes mistakenly presented as the original 1877 recording.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/EDIS-SCD-02|title=Mary had a little lamb|last=Thomas Edison|date=30 November 1926|via=Internet Archive|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003222147/https://archive.org/details/EDIS-SCD-02|archive-date=2016-10-03}}</ref>
Wax cylinder recordings made by 19th-century media legends such as [[P. T. Barnum]] and Shakespearean actor [[Edwin Booth]] are amongst the earliest verified recordings by the famous that have survived to the present.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/PersonalSpeechToTheFutureByP.T.Barnum1890 ''Personal Speech To The Future By P. T. Barnum'' recorded 1890] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329162559/https://archive.org/details/PersonalSpeechToTheFutureByP.T.Barnum1890 |date=2016-03-29 }}; from [https://archive.org/ archive.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231032705/https://archive.org/ |date=2013-12-31 }} Retrieved July 21, 2015</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/OthelloByEdwinBooth1890 ''Othello By Edwin Booth 1890'' recorded 1890] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160116142815/https://archive.org/details/OthelloByEdwinBooth1890 |date=2016-01-16 }} from [https://archive.org/ archive.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231032705/https://archive.org/ |date=2013-12-31 }} Retrieved July 21, 2015</ref>