Bouchelle Changing Gallery & Schulte Gallery
Open October 18, 2025 

"Echoes of the Past" showcases the Museum’s extensive collection of vintage gramophones from the late 1880s to the 1930s. These remarkable machines revolutionized the world of music, and this exhibit offers a captivating blend of art, science, and history. Once the primary means of bringing recorded music into homes, gramophones now stand as relics of a bygone era. Visitors will explore the early days of recorded music, discovering how sound was produced by the vibration of a stylus, or needle, as it traced the grooves of a rotating disc. The exhibit highlights the contributions of pioneering inventors like Emile Berliner, Thomas Edison, and the team at Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Laboratory, who made significant advancements in the field of recorded sound.

Journey through the evolution of the gramophone, leading up to the creation of the iconic Victrola by the Victor Talking Machine Company. Introduced in 1906, the Victrola became a household name, known for its innovative design that featured an internal horn, offering a more elegant and compact alternative to earlier phonographs with external horns.

The Museum is thrilled to present this seldom-seen part of its permanent collection, celebrating the historical significance, exquisite craftsmanship, and nostalgic charm of these machines from a time when music was experienced in a uniquely tangible way.