I have just bought a wonderful CD produced by the National Sound Archive called Voices of History. It contains 40 recordings of historical figures including Christabel Pankhurst, Lenin, Gladstone, William Booth and Gandhi. But perhaps the most striking recording is one of Florence Nightingale (who by coincidence is 187 years old today).
Recorded in 1890, the sound quality is naturally very poor, but most of the words are clearly discernible and it is amazing to think that you're listening to the voice of someone who was born in Regency England.
Click on the picture for a link to the recording.
I'm not sure whether to thank you for this link or not because I hadn't visited the site for ages and before I knew it an hour had gone by.So odd to hear Flo's voice. Virginia Woolf's even odder.
ReplyDeleteThe NSA is sitting on a goldmine - I hope that they release more recordings from their collection.
ReplyDelete