We present a curated repository of multielectrode array recordings of spontaneous activity in developing mouse and ferret retina. The data have been annotated with minimal metadata and converted into HDF5. The associated GigaScience paper describes the structure of the data, along with examples of reproducible research using these data files. Citing the data We are grateful to our colleagues for sharing their recordings. If you use any of these data sets, we request that you acknowledge the relevant authors by citing the corresponding papers: Blankenship 2011 Blankenship, A.G., Hamby, A.M., Firl, A., Vyas, S., Maxeiner, S., Willecke, K., Feller, M.B.: The role of neuronal connexins 36 and 45 in shaping spontaneous firing patterns in the developing retina. J. Neurosci. 31, 9998–10008 (2011). doi:10.1523/jneurosci.5640-10.2011 Demas 2003 Demas, J., Eglen, S.J., Wong, R.O.L.: Developmental loss of synchronous spontaneous activity in the mouse retina is independent of visual experience.J. Neurosci. 23, 2851–2860 (2003) Demas 2006 Demas, J., Sagdullaev, B.T., Green, E., Jaubert-Miazza, L., McCall, M.A., Gregg, R.G., Wong, R.O.L., Guido, W.: Failure to maintain eye-specific segregation in nob, a mutant with abnormally patterned retinal activity. Neuron 50, 247–259 (2006). doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2006.03.033 Hennig 2011 Hennig, M.H., Grady, J., van Coppenhagen, J., Sernagor, E.: Age-dependent homeostatic plasticity of GABAergic signaling in developing retinal networks. J. Neurosci. 31, 12159–12164 (2011). doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3112-11.2011 Kirkby 2013 Kirkby, L.A., Feller, M.B.: Intrinsically photosensitive ganglion cells contribute to plasticity in retinal wave circuits. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 110, 12090–12095 (2013). doi:10.1073/pnas.1222150110 Maccione 2014 Maccione, A., Hennig, M.H., Gandolfo, M., Muthmann, O., van Coppenhagen, J., Eglen, S.J., Berdondini, L., Sernagor, E.: Following the ontogeny of retinal waves: Pan-Retinal recordings of population dynamics in the neonatal mouse. J. Physiol., (2014). doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2013.262840 Stacy 2005 Stacy, R.C., Demas, J., Burgess, R.W., Sanes, J.R., Wong, R.O.L.: Disruption and recovery of patterned retinal activity in the absence of acetylcholine. J. Neurosci. 25, 9347–9357 (2005). doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1800-05.2005 Stafford 2009 Stafford, B.K., Sher, A., Litke, A.M., Feldheim, D.A.: Spatial-temporal patterns of retinal waves underlying activity-dependent refinement of retinofugal projections. Neuron 64, 200–212 (2009). doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2009.09.021 Sun 2008 Sun, C., Warland, D.K., Ballesteros, J.M., van der List, D., Chalupa, L.M.: Retinal waves in mice lacking the beta2 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 105, 13638–13643 (2008). Torborg 2004 Torborg, C., Wang, C.-T., Muir-Robinson, G., Feller, M.B.: L-type calcium channel agonist induces correlated depolarizations in mice lacking the beta2 subunit nAChRs. Vision Res. 44, 3347–3355 (2004). doi:10.1016/j.visres.2004.08.015 Wong 1993 Wong, R.O., Meister, M., Shatz, C.J.: Transient period of correlated bursting activity during development of the mammalian retina. Neuron 11, 923–938 (1993). doi:10.1016/0896-6273(93)90122-8 Xu 2011 Xu, H.-P., Furman, M., Mineur, Y.S., Chen, H., King, S.L., Zenisek, D., Jimmy Zhou, Z., Butts, D.A., Tian, N., Picciotto, M.R., Crair, M.C.: An instructive role for patterned spontaneous retinal activity in mouse visual map development. Neuron 70, 1115–1127 (2011). doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2011.04.028