DESCRIPTION:
Emile Berliner (1851-1929) was a German-born immigrant whose inventions contributed to the birth of the recording industry. A largely self-educated man, Berliner was responsible for the development of the microphone, the flat recording disc and the gramophone player. Often overlooked by today's historians, Berliner's creative genius rivaled that of his better-known contemporaries Thomas Alva Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. Like the works of these two inventors, Berliner's innovations helped shape the modern American way of life. Berliner's life, work and connection to Washington, D.C., where he lived for many years, is the subject of a talk by Samuel Brylawski and Karen Lund.

Speaker Biography: Samuel Brylawski, former head of the Recorded Sound Section at the Library of Congress, is the coordinator and editor of the Victor Records Discography at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Speaker Biography: Karen Lund is a digital project coordinator in the Library's Music Division and developer of the Emile Berliner online presentation on the Library's American Memory website.