Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph
in 1877.       

Edison stumbled on one of his great inventions—the phonograph—
while working on a way to record telephone communication at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. His work led him to
experiment with a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder, which, to his
surprise, played back the short song he had recorded, “MARY
HAD A LITTLE LAMB”. Public demonstrations of the phonograph
made the Yankee inventor world famous, and he was dubbed the
“Wizard of Menlo Park.”

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931)

( From HistoricTalk)

   

Retired photographer Rocco Morabito

Ulysses S. Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885)

On July 23, 1885, just after completing his memoirs, Civil War hero
and former president Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer. He
served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877.

Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx
(October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)

Roosevelt served as the 32nd president of the United States
from 1933 until his death.

Last photograph of Roosevelt, taken April 11, 1945, the day before his death.

In the afternoon of April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia,
while sitting for a portrait (below) Roosevelt said "I have a
terrific headache.” He then slumped forward in his chair,
unconscious, and was carried into his bedroom.

The president’s attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn,
diagnosed the medical emergency as a massive intracerebral hemorrhage.

At 3:35 p.m. that day, Roosevelt died at the age of 63.      

  
  
 

The president died while poising for this portrait. Years
later the artist made a second, complete version from
photo’s and memory, the only difference, besides being complete, is the color of FDR’s necktie.

SHIRLEY SMITH

Thomas A. Edison announced he had devised a method to record
sound with the invention of his phonograph on this day in 1877. It ushered in a new era of music and spoken word.