“Imagine your computer as a new Gramophone purchased for family and friends to enjoy in your home parlor.” That's the statement on the Library of Congress' new new National Jukebox web site.
The web site contains more than 10,000 recordings created between 1901 and 1925 on Victor 78rpm records. The selections include band music, opera arias, dance music, monologues, and musical theater. Included on the site are some pre-selected playlists to get you started – check out the “Gems from the Jukebox” which includes a comedy dialog with orchestra called “Chimmie and Maggie at the Hippodrome” from 1905, and “Flirting Whistler”, a charming one-step performed by Conway’s Band in 1915.
New recordings are added to the Jukebox every month. Later this year, the Library of Congress will begin digitizing recordings from additional record labels, including Columbia and Okeh, along with selected master recordings from the Library of Congress Universal Music Group Collection.
You can listen to any of the recordings on your computer.
Historical recordings from the Library of Congress are available free of charge at http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/
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