From Telephone to Ice Cream Cone:

Inventions and Their Inventors

The period from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century was a time of creativity and invention that forever changed American society. Discover the how and why of these inventions through the inventors’ own words, photographs, sound recordings, and film.

Telegraph (1844)

• Today in History: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/may24.html
• 1854 sketch of a telegraph by Morse: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mmorse&fileName=054/054001/054001page.db&recNum=101
• Paper strip containing the first message sent by Morse: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mcc&fileName=019/page.db&recNum=0

Telephone (1876)

• Today in History: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/mar10.html
• Model of 1876 telephone: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/detr:@field(NUMBER+@band(det+4a27893))

· Letter to Father-in-Law: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/magbell:@field(DOCID+@lit(magbell07900217))

· Original sketch of the telephone: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=magbell&fileName=273/27300105/bellpage.db&recNum=0

· Log Book that records Bell’s success: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/bell1.html

· Formal opening of the transcontinental telephone line: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=magbell&fileName=129/12900103/bellpage.db&RecNum=0

Phonograph (1877)

Thomas Edison was a prolific inventor and is known for more than the incandescent light bulb.

• Today in History - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/aug12.html
• Original Edison Tin-Foil phonograph: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/tinfoil.jpg
• June 1878 North American Review article on possible uses of the phonograph (scroll down): http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edcyldr.html

Gramophone (1887)

• Emile Berliner Special Presentation: The Gramophone: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/berlhtml/berlgramo.html
• Picture of gramophone: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/berl:@field(NUMBER+@band(berlp+12040507))
• Image showing lateral cuts: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=berl&fileName=11010113//berl11010113.db&recNum=0
• Berliner’s sound recordings - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/berlhtml/berlrecording.html

Kinetoscope (1897)

Twenty years after the phonograph, Edison patented the Kinetoscope, forerunner to the motion picture film projector.

• Today in History: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/aug31.html
• Early kinetoscope: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/scopeop.jpg
• Motion picture production studio built at West Orange, December 1892: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/blkmimg.jpg
• Fred Ott's Sneeze: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+0026A))
• Early attempt to create a sound film using the kinetophone: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+4034))+@field(COLLID+edison))

· Vitascope Advertisement: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/vitampbg.jpg

• Police Patrol Wagon (actuality): http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(edmp+4052))+@field(COLLID+edison))

Ice Cream Cone (1904)

• Today in History: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul23.html
• Thomas Jefferson's Recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream (a recipe he acquired while Ambassador to France in the 1780s): http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/uc004810.jpg
• America's Library (brief history of ice cream): http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/progress/icecream_2

Flight (1903)

• Today in History - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec17.html
• The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wrighthtml/wrighthome.html
• Collection Highlights: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wrighthtml/wrighthigh.html

Other Resources:

• Samuel F.B. Morse Papers, 1793-1919: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sfbmhtml/sfbmhome.html

• Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/bellhome.html

• Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Co.: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edhome.html

• Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/berlhtml/berlgramo.html