If you think the 8-track tape is an ancient form of recording sound, wait until you discover the cylinder. These small devices from the late 1800s were played on mechanical phonographs and looked like rolls of film with the music engraved on the outside surface. Cylinders eventually lost out to the flat discs we know today, but you can see and hear them at the Heritage Societyยs ยSounds of the Past: Phonographs, Radios, and Records,ย along with their disc-shaped counterparts and much more. From 1890s record players to the first car radio to 1930s discs, the exhibit chronicles the progression of recorded sound with a display of the then-groundbreaking machines and some of the eraยs landmark broadcasts. ยSounds of the Pastย includes items from the Houston Vintage Radio Association and the Heritage Societyยs own impressive Frank Davis collection.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Oct. 2. Continues through Jan. 27, 2007
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2007.