Musée des ondes Emile Berliner
The Musée des ondes Emile Berliner is located in the historic factory of the Berlin Gram-o-phone Company in Montreal , Quebec, Canada.
building
From its completion in 1907 to 1924, the factory complex was the headquarters of Emil Berliner’s company . Emil Berliner was the inventor of the record. Together with his brother Josef Berliner, he founded the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft in Hanover .
Because of an unjust New York court ruling against him, Berliner decided to relocate his North American headquarters from Philadelphia to neighboring Canada . He found a suitable site in Montréal Saint-Henri and opened the factory of the "Berliner Gram-O-Phone Co. Montreal" there.
After 1929 the factory belonged to RCA Victor Canada. At the end of the 1950s, the first Canadian satellite, Alouette 1 , was completed at this location .
The museum was founded in 1992 by the citizens of Montreal in the former record factory. Annual changing exhibitions have been held since 1996. The museum has around 30,000 objects in its collection on subjects related to recording technology, record production, sound reproduction, sound carriers, but also satellite technology, with a time frame from the pioneering days of the music industry to digitization.
Since 2006, the Club des vieilles lampes has been affiliated with the museum , a weekly meeting point for retired sound engineers, record collectors , historians, engineers, etc.
The building, which is now called "Édifice RCA", has been renovated and converted into a mixed office building. The museum has set up showcases for permanent exhibition in several areas of the building.
Exhibitions (selection)
- From gramophone to satellite (1996)
- My dear nipper - already 100 years (2000)
- Radio and Design (2002)
- 50 years of television in Montreal (2003)
- Marconi, inventor of wireless transmission (2004)
- Montreal as the cradle of the record industry (2008)
- Goodbye Broadway, Hello Montréal (2010)
- The Radio and the War in Montreal (2015)
- Montreal in Space (2016)
- Design Montreal RCA (2017)
Events and publications
The museum organizes regular tours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, in English and French. It takes part in the annual Montreal Museums Day (May) and the Journées de la Culture (end of September).
The museum publishes a membership booklet two to four times a year.
Web links
- Museum website
- Music history: "Nipper before the funnel". The story of Emil Berliner , by Lothar Baier , Die Zeit, March 21, 16, 2007 (first 2001)
Coordinates: 45 ° 28 ′ 38.8 " N , 73 ° 35 ′ 32.5" W.