Now that my school year is over I’m taking a short fly fishing vacation. The posts for the rest of the week highlight my favorite resources of 2011 so far.

The National Jukebox is an archive of more than 10,000 recordings made by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1901 and 1925. These are recordings that were made using an acoustical recording process that captured sounds on wax cylinders. The recordings in the archive can be searched and listened to on your computer. You can search the archives by recording date, recording type, language, and target audience. The National Jukebox has also arranged playlists that you can listen to in a continuous stream. You can also embed the recordings player into your blog or website as I have done below.

Another great feature of the National Jukebox is the interactive Victrola Book of the Opera. The book contains 436 pages of history and descriptions of 110 operas. Recordings in the book can be launched and listened to within the pages of the book.

Applications for Education
The National Jukebox could be a great resource for teachers of history, music, and music history. As a history teacher I might have students choose recordings that they like, research the performers,  and research the cultural and or political context in which a recording was made. Music teachers may want to do a similar project in which students trace the evolution of a particular style of music.