The Edison Disc Phonograph

            The Edison Disc Phonograph is a peculiar piece of furniture. When the doors on top and on the front are closed, it looks like an overly fancy tabletop. The wooden cabinet features a simple, yet elegant, pattern carved around the top and across the front. The slightly curved legs extend all the way to the top of the piece, framing the body, and lead your eye to the top which looks like a played-down pagoda. When you open the door on the front, two rows of black discs reveal themselves. When you open the top, you find the turn table and the needle waiting to be used.

            Even though the Edison Disc Phonograph is a visually pleasing piece of furniture, the real beauty comes from how it sounds. Thomas A. Edison Inc. (originally the National Phonograph Company) prided itself with making phonographs with the best sound quality. Edison’s goal was not just to record sounds, but to recreate them. The result is a crisp sound that fills an entire room with elegant symphonies and jolly tunes. 

The Evolution of the Edison Disc Phonograph

            Thomas Edison came up with the idea of the phonograph while he was working to improve the telegraph and telephone. He realized that the vibrations caused by his voice would be indented into tinfoil cylinders by a recording needle, which could then be played back through a wide tube. The first words Edison recorded on his device were “Mary had a little lamb.”

            So in 1878, Thomas Edison founded the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company with ideas like making audiobooks for blind people, clocks that announce the time, and of course for playing music. The company evolved into the National Phonograph Company and focused on the production of phonographs for music that use wax cylinders that recorded the sound. While the cylinders made for better sound quality than discs (which many competitors were using), it took much longer to mass produce them. In 1913, Edison’s company began producing phonographs that played discs. Thus, the Edison Disc Phonograph was created and here one stands in the Farm House Museum.

What is it about music…?

            What makes music so timeless? I’m sure there are hundreds or thousands of books on that subject but I think each of us has an idea about what makes music special for us. That feeling you get when you listen to a new song or a favorite that you’ve heard 1,000 times is something that people have been experiencing for a very long time. 

            For Americans in the early 19^th century, music was mostly passed down through word of mouth because sheet music and being taught how to read it were pretty expensive and time consuming. As sheet music became more available into the mid-19^th century, more songs were written down, making them more consistent whether you lived in New York, Chicago, or Florida. Music was not an individual experience either. It was meant to be experienced with other people, crowded around a piano (whether in a parlor or a tavern), enjoying the beautiful sound. Even as technology progresses, giving us the phonograph and the radio in the 20^th century, people experienced music in the company of others. The only, and most wonderful, thing that changed is how accessible it became to everyone.

            Today, music is an experience that is more accessible than ever. Think about how many times each day you listen to music and in what company: while walking between classes, doing homework, working out, just hanging out with friends. It surrounds us every day. Now, try to picture a group of people, like you and me, crowded around a piano, listening to the latest and greatest tune. Keep the imagination going and replace the piano with an ornate phonograph, like the one pictured, bellowing sound that fills the entire room. When you’re in the Farm House Museum, you’re surrounded by the history and it’s easy to imagine a room of people enjoying each others company. Now replace the phonograph with a radio, the size of your mini-fridge, broadcasting everything from classics to rock-n-roll to the nightly news. And it shouldn’t be too hard to switch out the radio with a Bluetooth speaker and a song queue to which everyone is contributing to. 

            Whatever it is that makes music have such an awesome effect on us, I don’t know. But it hasn’t stopped entertaining us and bringing us together to share in a wonderful experience. The next time you're listening to music, remember to stop into the Farm House Museum. We'll play the Edison Disc Phonograph for you and you can take a trip back in time through music.

The Roycroft Magazine Stand

It stands, resolute, in Charles Curtiss’ library within the Farm House Museum. It’s not the centerpiece of the room, but it certainly draws the attention of anyone who walks in. The Roycroft Magazine Stand is made from oak and features a simple design that was common at the turn of the 20

Two things really deserve some attention. First, the front of the stand is engraved, “C F C – 1901.” This is what makes this stand really special for the Farm House. This magazine stand was gifted to Charles F. Curtiss by the ISU class of 1901. Recognize that name? Yes, Charles Curtiss was the second Dean of Agriculture at Iowa State and he lived in the Farm House from 1897 to 1947. The second thing is the Roycroft logo carved into each side of the stand.

What is Roycroft?

A man named Elbert Hubbard began the legacy of the Roycroft brand. His inspiration came from the Arts and Crafts movement that was happening in Europe at the time. The Arts and Crafts movement was a widespread response to industrialization. People were tired of the soulless products that came from factories and they drew inspiration from many medieval styles. Elbert Hubbard, along with many Americans, began following that trend. Hubbard started the Roycroft Press in East Aurora, NY in 1895. His community grew to be a safe haven for other Arts and Crafts artists, artisans, writers, and philosophers.

 

               The Roycroft Shops produced many pieces of furniture made out of wood and other objects for the house made from stained glass, copper, and leather. The key feature behind all of their products was the simple design, which was indirectly inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. The straight lines of the Roycroft Magazine Stand show this in addition to the piece of furniture being made entirely of wood and using mortise and tenon joints instead of glue or nails

               The Roycroft community valued hard, hands-on work, fueled by passion for the trade. They sought after a life where work and pleasure could be had all at once. Their motto was a quote from John Ruskin, a prominent figure in the Arts and Crafts movement: 

               “A belief in working with the head, hand and heart and mixing enough play with the work so that every task is pleasurable and makes for health and happiness.”

                                  How does this connect to Iowa State?

               I think this Roycroft Magazine Stand connects to Charles Curtiss in two ways. Obviously the fact that he owned the piece of furniture, but also because he emulated similar values to the company that crafted it. Charles Curtiss worked hard to grow Iowa State’s agriculture programs by expanding research opportunities, designing a four-year curriculum in agriculture, and supporting competition teams from the school. Curtiss clearly saw the value in hard work that people were passionate about and included enough fun to make a healthy campus environment. In a big way, you can still see the fruits of Curtiss’ labor. Iowa State supports hundreds of student organizations, thousands of student jobs, and rigorous classes in any area that students can get excited about.

               When you visit the Farm House Museum, take a minute to look at the Roycroft Magazine Stand and admire the craftsmanship while thinking about what type of work you engage in that combines the head, hand, and heart.

The Cast Iron Stove

When is the last time you used a stove? Now, even more importantly, how easy was it? I bet all you had to do was turn a knob and *whoosh* a flame appeared and you were cooking. You all know where this is going, right? Yeah, let’s talk about stoves.

               In the 1860’s (when the Farm House was built), you might have found yourself with a cast iron, coal burning stove. These things are not to be trifled with because they are beastly, weighing around 500 lbs. Maintaining the fire in a coal stove was tough work and whose plate was it dropped on? Yes, the woman of the household. As if she didn’t have enough to do already, right? In order to keep the coals burning, they had to be stoked about every ten minutes. Try getting any cleaning, sewing, or laundry done, while caring for children, cooking, AND having to keep that up.

               I can even top that…there were no thermometers during this time period so how was the cook supposed to judge temperature? Well, the common rule was to hold your hand in the oven until you just couldn’t bare it anymore. Some old ‘How-to’ books say if you only last 20 seconds, it’s hot enough for a good sized roast… Are you kidding me?

               What does this tell us about the mid-19^th century?

Times were tough on the American frontier. The typical family didn’t even have some of the simple amenities you can find in the Farm House. Having kids was also an economical decision. People needed as much help as they could on the farm and in the house. So, it was common to see larger families. We’re talking 8+ children, each with different chores to do in order to contribute to the household. House chores like cleaning, sewing, caring for younger siblings, and washing clothes were given to the girls. When boys were old enough for physical labor, they basically became apprentices to their fathers, helping on the farm and doing any repair or construction work that needed to be done.

Living space was a luxury. This should be surprising! What did all of these farming families have so much of? Land! So, why did these early frontier homes only have a few rooms? One answer, that has to do with our coal burning stove, is it wasn’t easy to heat big homes. The cast iron stoves were the only source of heat in the brutal Iowa winter (that we all know and love) and usually there was one, maybe two in each house. Therefore, the better option was to cram all 8 kids into one room, the mother and father in their own room, then have one main room for everything else (cooking, sitting, reading, bathing, etc).

I think it’s safe to say we can all be grateful for being born in the current era. Electric and gas stoves, central heating, separate rooms for cooking, bathing, and sleeping. These things are all commodities now, but in the decades surrounding the beginning of Iowa State, this was not the case.