The collections at The Alexander Graham Bell Museum range from his attic workshop to modern mobile phones. Special highlights of our collections are functioning Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches, operator switchboards, outside plant displays of poles cables splicing tools as well as working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches and operating Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches that feature working Panel/Crossbar electromechanical central office switches as well as working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches and crossbar electromechanical central office switches as well as working Panel/Crossbar electromechanical central office switches featuring working Panel/Crossbar electromechanical central office switches; highlights include working central office switches featuring working Panel/Crossbar electromechanical switches as well as working Panel/Crossbar electromechanical switches, operator switchboards as well as outside plant displays featuring pole/cable splicing tools!
Our Telephone Outreach Workshops promote an enthusiasm for engineering by drawing upon America’s rich phone history. They teach students how to use screw drivers and electrical theory while inspiring an intrinsic curiosity that was the catalyst behind its invention.
Education Programs
The museum collection encourages excitement for engineering by tapping America’s remarkable telephone history through educational programs that compare modern telecom technology with vintage. Furthermore, it fosters entrepreneurialism that spawned telephone technology in its early days and remains central to today’s inventors and innovators.
The Museum’s interactive Telephone Workshops introduce STEM education to children and teenagers by encouraging self-motivation through discovery of electric theory and practical applications of this invisible science with old rotary phones, stepping switches and other equipment. Formative evaluation data on participants learning is collected throughout their years with us by informal educators and technical library staff.
Our Telecommunications Artifact Collections are built by former telephone workers who volunteer their stories and objects with visitors of all ages. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit museum, this generosity supports educational programming and facility development efforts; volunteers play an essential role conducting tours, managing youth activity tables and cataloguing memorabilia (some even boast formal artifact handling and library/archives experience!). Telephone revolutionized communication allowing businesses to expand beyond local boundaries, and individuals connect globally.
Community Events
Telephone Historical Centre is an acquisition, research, organization, documentation, exhibition and storage center dedicated to telephone history materials. As a private non-profit organization funded by membership dues, research fees and grants.
Our organization encompasses a museum, an extensive archive, and educational programs with the mission of sparking enthusiasm for engineering through American’s remarkable telephone history. To accomplish this we compare modern day telecom to vintage technology while cultivating curiosity that led to its invention and continues to fuel modern engineers and inventors today.
Roseville Telephone Museum (presented by SureWest) boasts one of the country’s largest collections of antique telephones, making for an exciting family outing, school field trip or sight-seeing tour experience.
Tours
The Museum of Telecommunications features over a century of telephone development. Our vast collection of phones and related items provides a remarkable educational opportunity, from solid wooden phones with operator-directed designs from decades past to today’s pocket sized mobiles.
The Museum of Telecommunications promotes engineering by using its collection to demonstrate communication principles through educational programs that compare modern day telecommunications with vintage technologies. Through hands on exhibits and an engaging Telecommunications Theatre show, visitors to the museum are given an appreciation and understanding of technological advances which made modern communication possible.
Volunteer Opportunities
Historic Richmond Town relies heavily on volunteers to make its programs and activities possible. Volunteers can serve in roles that range from gallery interpretation to special events planning, maintenance/grounds upkeep and administrative projects like research, inventory and supply preparations.
Many museum volunteers are former telephone operators or workers, offering firsthand knowledge to museum visitors. Furthermore, these former operators possess intimate knowledge about the equipment on display as well as telecom history displayed throughout the museum.
Volunteers looking for an informal museum experience or waiting to enter Gallery Interpretation training may choose to work at museum special events like the Annual Antiques Show and Fibers to Fabric (formerly Sheep to Shawl) event, where volunteers greet and assist guests with station activities with minimal pre-event training requirements. Volunteers also assist in setting up and cleaning up after events in the Visitor Center while others help the collections department by data entry, sorting archival materials or cataloguing artifacts.
