Lincoln's voice is found in the Museum of History offices. It is located in the library (the 2-story room with the turret), upstairs, on a desk to the left of the hole blown in the main room up there.


The object itself is a phonautograph, the earliest known recording device invented by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1857.[1] Unlike Edison's phonograph invented years later in 1877, the phonautograph was only designed to transcribe sound waves for visual analysis, and incapable of playing back a recording.

Related questsEdit

Lincoln's Profit Margins - Hannibal Hamlin or Leroy Walker will give the player character 50 caps for the device, or 100 caps with a successful Speech check. Also, Abraham Washington will pay 60 caps, or 120 after a successful Speech check.



Behind the scenesEdit

This is a reference to a legend that such a recording was actually made of Lincoln's voice in 1863 by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, the inventor of the phonautograph.[2] Since the story did not appear until the 1960s, its authenticity is questionable.



  1. Oldest Recording Unveiled, Pre-dates Edison on the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences blog.
  2. The "Lost" Tracing of Lincoln's Voice