The Volta Laboratory Association
In 1879 Alexander Graham Bell moved to Washington, D.C., and established a laboratory with the help of instrument maker Charles Sumner Tainter. A year later they moved the lab to 1221 Connecticut Ave. N.W., where the recordings in this gallery were made.
Bell funded their research with ten thousand dollars received in 1880 from the French Volta Prize, awarded for his work on the telephone. His cousin Chichester Bell, a London chemistry professor, joined them, and the three young men formed the Volta Laboratory Association to share any profits their research might yield.
The association dissolved in 1885, and Chichester Bell returned to London. The collaboration eventually yielded sixteen sound patents, and Tainter continued work to bring their ideas to market.
Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 (Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives)
Chichester Alexander Bell (Courtesy of Science & Society Picture Library)
Charles Sumner Tainter in 1877 (Courtesy of Dictaphone Corporation)
Map of Scott Circle area of Washington, D.C., drawn by Alexander Graham Bell, with the Volta Laboratory building marked with the letter 'A' (Courtesy of Library of Congress)
