The Telephone Historical Centre teaches about invention and design. Their collection sheds light on how technology enters our homes and lives.
Visitors can witness how phones have transformed from solid wood wall phones to the smartphones we carry in our pockets.
Students can also gain insights into those responsible for making it all possible.
Educational Outreach
The Museum serves as an acquisition, research, documentation and exhibition center for materials related to telephone history from Alexander Graham Bell’s solid wood wall-mounted operator-directed phones through modern cell phones with multiple functions. Additionally, local phone industries are documented through directories, photographs and personal narratives.
Telecommunications museums serve as community gathering places, sparking curiosity and deepening understanding about how communication technology impacts our daily lives. Museums make for perfect family outings or school field trip destinations.
Volunteers act as Museum Ambassadors, welcoming visitors and circulating through public zones. Behind-the-scenes, they support library/archives conservation laboratories as well as exhibit installation and event planning. Volunteers also recruit former telecom workers by encouraging them to bring memorabilia from their garages or sheds so the Museum can create collections celebrating creativity. Educational workshops support STEM learning at the Museum while its Traveling Trunks Program connects its collection directly with communities who cannot visit in person.
Traveling Trunks Program
Traveling Trunks bring the history of communications to classrooms, scout groups and community organizations. Participants learn how communication technology has evolved since Alexander Graham Bell first created a solid wood wall-mounted device to today’s sleek cellular phones; additionally they explore iterative design processes by engaging with an intricate panel switchboard or replicas of candlestick phones.
This program offers a broad selection of topics and objects aligned with Missouri and national standards, providing teachers with an easy-to-use teacher’s guide, digital resources, and lessons that can be tailored for different age groups. Teachers can select an ideal trunk based on their curriculum needs. Each trunk comes complete with an instructional DVD.
Each traveling trunk comes complete with its own Buddy Bison character who travels along to collect photos from classes and community groups who have utilized it. Unfortunately, NHTM can only ship trunks directly to schools; PTA members or homeschoolers cannot utilize the program. Trunks are shipped using large flat rate boxes with return postage included in their price.
Outreach Workshops
Established by retired telecom professionals, this museum in Edmonton Alberta allows visitors to experience telephone history first-hand. From solid wood wall-mounted phones with operator direction to today’s sleek cell phones, visitors will see how communication technology has advanced since Alexander Graham Bell first presented the idea in 1876 to modern telecommunications services.
Their extensive collection includes antique wooden box phones, candlestick wall phones and an active panel and crossbar electromechanical central office type switching system. Furthermore, this museum provides an in-depth view into early telecommunications through open wire insulators, maps and old telephone books from which visitors can learn about early history of telecom.
This museum’s Traveling Trunks Program brings artifacts and engaging activities directly into schools and community groups across California. These programs introduce participants to significant moments in telecom history while showcasing iterative design processes, sparking discussions on how we use communication technologies, and promote awareness about how communications technology is revolutionizing our world.
Sustainability
Technology today can seem almost magical: pressing a button allows us to contact mom in Philadelphia or your best friend in New York instantly. But in years gone by, getting calls through required more wires and cords. Your visit from Henniker to Warner’s Telephone Museum will open your eyes to human communication history as it showcases an intriguing timeline of communications innovation.
This museum charts the development of telephone technology from Alexander Graham Bell’s workshop through today’s models, featuring various telecom artifacts as well as an extensive library containing books, catalogs and technical journals related to phone communication technology.
Museum Ambassadors volunteer their time as part of their outreach work to visit older adults in the community as part of their outreach work. By engaging people and discussing topics relevant to museums or the museum itself, the program has proven its ability to reduce loneliness among older adults while simultaneously increasing overall wellbeing.
