At the beginning of the last century, the growing interest in foreign cultures and languages led to a rapid development of experimental phonetics. In Germany, Rousselot's scholar Panconcelli-Calzia introduced experimental phonetics as scientific field in Hamburg like Gutzmann and Wethlo did in Berlin. A number of historic instruments remembering these times are preserved in the Dresden University now. This paper gives a short overview of the development of the experimental phonetics in Hamburg and Berlin and the history of the phonetic collection in Dresden. In the main part, some projects concerning selected objects of the collection (Wethlo's cushion pipes, history of pitch measurement, mechanical voices from Kessel and Hoelbe) are summarized.