Citizen DJ

Variety Stage Sound Recordings and Motion Pictures

The 61 motion pictures in the Variety Stage Sound Recordings and Motion Pictures include animal acts, burlesque, dance, comic sketches, dramatic excerpts, dramatic sketches, physical culture acts, and tableaus. The films represented date from copyrights of 1897 to 1920. Although not actually filmed on a theatrical stage, they sought to recreate the atmosphere of a theater performance by showing the types of vaudeville acts and performers that were popular at the time.

View this collection on the Library of Congress website

Download files in bulk

A set of 4173 audio samples have been automatically generated from this collection for use in your favorite music production software. It contains 77 audio segments and 4096 one-shot audio clips, ideal for use in samplers.

Rights & access

The works in this collection have been identified to be in the public domain and are free to use and reuse without restriction. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the works, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Attribution is recommended but not required.

Why is this free to use?

All recordings made by the companies of Thomas A. Edison between 1890 and 1929 are in the public domain because the assets of Edison Records were transferred to the National Park Service, a federal agency, in the 1950s.

Suggested credit line

Citizen DJ Project, Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division.

Browse & preview files

Click the files below to preview the audio segments: