1888 Christmas Message to Thomas Edison

This message, the oldest known Christmas-related sound recording in the world, was made by Colonel George Gouraud, Thomas Edison's sales agent in England, on December 21, 1888. Gouraud spent the 2nd half of that year at Little Menlo, his home in London, making recordings of voice messages and music, and sent the resulting 6 months of cylinders in a box to Thomas Edison in West Orange, New Jersey. On the final cylinder in the collection, Gouraud expressed hope that the box would arrive safely, and then gave the following yuletide greeting to Edison and his entourage.

[@Tye2000_YouTube_official]

Just coincidentally watched this on this very day of December 21st 2023 whilst looking through the History of Audio

[@will27ns]

It's interesting that Col. Gouraud was born in America (he was a Civil War hero), yet sounds on this recording like an Englishman. An early recording of P.T. Barnum, born in Connecticut, sounds like a Scottish accent. It would be fascinating to hear a recording of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, etc. to discover if the American accent has really changed that much over time.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

There's an even earlier recording of an American, William Woodruff (b. 1807), LDS President. There's also the John D. Rockefeller interview if you haven't seen that yet. Online creators such as Ace Linguist, Simon Roper, AZ Foreman, and ABAlphaBeta have all came up with 18th century versions of American accents (you should also check them out).

[@asian_seasoning8257]

I wonder what it was like to live back then

[@truesosense7722]

@MisterWeasel False

[@truesosense7722]

@MisterWeasel The food is much worse nowadays and vaccines were already a thing

[@edgarallanpoestheblackcat6613]

sucked

[@cheesemanthe2nd]

Sounds like he's stuck in a blizzard lol

[@TheConorsmithusa]

it does lol

[@SaimAli-eq1yn]

Very good sir

[@elguinolo7358]

Now wait for the PC crowd to yell and demand that KZbin censors the video because it dares to mention "Chrismas" !

[@TheObscureMediaArchive]

Literally nobody thinks that

[@tajinnightcore1735]

@@TheObscureMediaArchive r/whoosh

[@cheesemanthe2nd]

@@tajinnightcore1735 we all know it was a joke it just wasn't funny

[@tajinnightcore1735]

@@cheesemanthe2nd no need to be salty though