In the spring of 2021, a patron donated three Voice-O-Graph records to Arapahoe Libraries. What's a Voice-O-Graph record, you ask? Well, a Voice-O-Graph record is a record created in a Voice-O-Graph booth, which were coin-operated booths about the same size as a telephone booth. (What's a telephone booth, you might ask? Google it!)
In the 1940s, Voice-O-Graph booths could be found in high traffic areas such as fairgrounds, boardwalks and tourist destinations. Learn more about the company's history, opens a new window.
How did it work? The patron steps into the booth, picks up the microphone which looks just like a telephone, and then dictates a letter, sings a song, speaks their piece, or records birthday, anniversary or holiday greetings for up to three minutes and ten seconds.
The Voice-O-Graph would play back the recording and then "vend" a 6-inch record out a slot like a can of soda. Many customers delighted in hearing their recorded voice for the first time. All for 25 cents! For an extra five cents the customer could get a special mailing envelope.
In 1946, the International Mutoscope Reel Company installed a Voice-O-Graph booth on the Empire State Building’s eighty-sixth floor. Billboard magazine called it the “World’s Highest Coin Machine, opens a new window.” This is where the donated records were created, as the recordings note.
Voice-O-Graph records can be digitized at our Digital Media Stations. One of those digitized Voice-O-Graph records is presented in the following recording.
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