Oldest Records

Oldest Records The oldest known record in existence today is one made in 1878 by Augustus Stroh (inventor of the Stroh violin). Still on the mandrel of his machine and never played, it was reported in Sound Box, November 1990, and ARSC Journal 22–1 (Spring 1991). Among extant records that have been played, the oldest may be an engraved metal cylinder made by Frank Lambert in 1878 or 1879. It was intended to be the sound track in a talking clock, and offers the hours: “One o’clock, two o’clock…