Physics Department Records Important Tercentenary Speeches On Phonograph

As a further unique addition to the history of the Tercentenary a set of phonograph records of all the important speeches delivered on the concluding three days is being completed by the Department of Physics and Communication Engineering.

This department also recorded the lectures of the noted visiting physicists who addressed the Tercentenary Conference of Arts and Sciences. Including the talks of Robert A. Millikan, Arthur Holly Compton, Tullio Levi-Civita, Frank B. Jewett, and many other famous scientist, these records will be added to the Cruft Laboratory, which some times ago started a collection of scientific phonograph records.

The opening oration of President Conant, the special Ode to Harvard by Herman Hagedorn '07, and President-Emeritus Lowell's address, presiding at the Tercentenary meeting of the Alumni Association have all been recorded. Also the welcoming Latin oration by Edward K. Rand '94. Pope Professor of Latin, and the address by Samuel E. Morison '08, professor of History have been preserved for posterity, along with other talks of major importance.

The actual speaking time of the orators on the last three days amounted to something over 12 hours, and more than 150 records were required to preserve the speeches. Dr. Frederick V. Hunt, instructor in Physics and Communication, and attached to the staff of the Cruft Laboratory, was in charge of the work, and he announced that when the act is completed it will be filed in the University archives in Widener with other Tercentenary material.

Cellulose nitrate discs, generally considered the best for permanence and quality, and the "High Fidelity" system were used to preserve the voices, and, to guard against interruptions or failure of the recording apparatus, all talks were recorded in duplicate. Although the Tercentenary work was not the initial attempt to preserve historic speeches, it was the most extensive. The archives already contain recordings of the voices of President Eliot, Chief Justice Charles E. Hughes, Edwin Booth, the actor.