The UCSB Library invites you to discover and listen to its online archive of cylinder recordings; donate to help the collection grow; and learn about how these sounds and songs create an audio history of American culture.

Cylinder of the day

“The birlin' reels” performed by J. Scott Skinner.

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News

November 12, 2020 Earliest commercial recordings made in Los Angeles featured in series of LA Times articles: LA Cylinders. UCSB's "Temple of Sound." Guardians.

November 18, 2019: Reverb Effect Podcast "Archive Magic: Uncovering Voices of the Past" features UCSB cylinders online.

November 4, 2019: Spokenweb Podcast: "Sound Recordings are Weird" interviews Project Director online.

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Playlists

Listen to thematic playlists of recordings from the archive

Cylinder History

Explore the history of the cylinder recording format

Did You Know?

The cylinder boom started in 1897, when 500,000 cylinders were produced.

An initiative of the UC Santa Barbara Library • (805) 893-5444 • Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010. Direct questions or comments about the project or this page to the project staff or visit the help pages. Copyright © 2005-2017 The Regents of the University of California, All Rights Reserved.