The Johnson Victrola Museum on Bank Street is devoted to Eldridge Reeves Johnson, the Delaware native who invented the Victrola and founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1901. The museum holds an impressive collection of early phonographs, Victrolas in every size and cabinet style, original recordings on 78 rpm discs, and memorabilia from the early recording industry.
The collection includes machines that were household status symbols in their day — the Victrola in a fine mahogany cabinet was the equivalent of a high-end stereo system — as well as the cheaper portable models that brought recorded music to a wider audience. The museum is free to visit and is located in the same historic district as the Old State House and The Green.