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Making America's Best Idea Even Better
Thomas Edison National Historical ParkThomas Edison sitting at his desk talking with an employee.
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Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Poetry Short Stories and Readings
 

Uncle Tom's cabin - Entrance of Topsy
Performed by: Len Spencer and company
Written by: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Record format: Edison Amberol cylinder
Release number: 4M-572 (A- .15)
Release date: December 1910
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 36848

In de mornin' & Jes gib him one ob mine
Performed by: Edward Sterling Wright
Written by: Paul Lawrence Dunbar
Record format: Edison Blue Amberol cylinder
Release number: 2235 (.3)
Release date: April 1914
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 34435
** Historical note: Edward Sterling Wright was an African-American actor educated at Emerson College of Oratory in Boston. His recitations helped to introduce and popularize the works of African-American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.

Antony's address over the body of Caesar
Performed by: Harry E. Humphrey
Written by: William Shakespeare
Record format: Edison Diamond Disc
Matrix number: 3049-B-1-1
Recording date: 1914
Release number: 50211-R
Release date: c. June 1915
NPS object catalog number: EDIS 40512
The talking doll that Edison sold had a ceramic head and metal body.  

Did You Know?
Was Teddy Ruxpin the first talking doll? Think again. Some of the first phonographs that Thomas made were actually talking dolls. The dolls were 18" tall and each had a very small phonograph in its body. The dolls repeated nursery rhymes. You could even buy dolls that spoke different languages.

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Last Updated: February 12, 2009 at 09:15 EST