[ARSCLIST] Tim Brooks talk on G.W. Johnson at Edison NHS - July 27, 2007

[Jerry Fabris <Gerald_Fabris@xxxxxxx>]

National Park Service Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 22, 2007
Contact: Jerry Fabris, 973-736-0550 extension 48

HISTORIAN TIM BROOKS PRESENTATION AND BOOK SIGNING AT GLENMONT
On George W. Johnson - the First African-American Recording Star

WEST ORANGE, NJ - On Friday, July 27, 2007, at 7:30 pm, Edison National
Historic Site welcomes noted historian Tim Brooks who will give a 50-minute
slide presentation on the amazing life of George W. Johnson.  Born a slave
on a Virginia farm in 1846, Johnson may have been the first
African-American ever to make a sound recording.  He was the most popular
black recording artist during the first decade of the industry.  Discovered
singing for tips at the Hudson River ferryboat terminal in New York City,
two of Johnson’s songs became the best-selling records of the 1890s. One of
Johnson's earliest recording sessions took place at Thomas Edison's West
Orange Laboratory on June 1, 1891.

Tim Brooks is a television executive and a researcher of early recording
artists and phonograph history.  After the program, Brooks will sign copies
of both his ground-breaking book "Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the
Recording Industry, 1890-1919," and the companion audio compact disc “Lost
Sounds,” which won the 2007 Grammy award for “Best Historical Release.”

The program will be held at Thomas Edison’s home, Glenmont in Llewellyn
Park. Admission is free but seating is limited and reservations are
required. Reservations can be made by calling the Site at 973-324-9973.

Tours of Edison’s Glenmont estate are offered Wednesday through Sunday this
summer. Tour tickets are available in the Garden Shop at the Greenhouse on
Honeysuckle Avenue in Llewellyn Park. Admission is free. For tour schedules
or directions please call 973-324-9973 or visit our website at
www.nps.gov/edis.  Group tours may be scheduled by calling the Chief of
Interpretation at 973-736-2783 extension 6.   The Laboratory portion of
Edison National Historic Site remains closed while construction continues
there.

-NPS-