The Telephone Historical Centre in Roseville, California boasts one of the world’s largest collections of antique telephones and is managed by active and retired telecom employees who donate their time for this museum.

Displays feature wooden box phones, candlestick phones and classic rotary phones made of wood and other materials; also present are working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches.

Public Tours

The Museum is housed in a landmark phone building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Displays include antique telephones and related equipment from different eras; owned and managed by Telecom Pioneers a non-profit 501(c)(3) Bell System employee service organization.

The collection encompasses a range of telecom artifacts, such as operator switchboards, manual and automated switching systems, phones and kiosks – which demonstrate how communications technology has developed from its early days up until present day mobile phones.

This museum is extremely fascinating, featuring an impressive selection of vintage phones – even some quirky novelty ones! Their knowledgeable guides were eager to answer all of our queries about telecommunications history and culture in society and culture! I highly recommend it for group tours; just call ahead.

Education Programs

The Museum is committed to collecting, researching, organizing and displaying historical materials related to telephone communications technology in Edmonton and beyond. As an accredited member of Museums Alberta.

Our collections range from Alexander Graham Bell’s attic workshop all the way through modern wireless technology that we all take for granted. In addition, there is also a technical library containing telecom related books, catalogs and journals.

Roseville Telephone Museum boasts one of the country’s most extensive collections of antique telephones and memorabilia. A visit is an engaging family outing, school field trip or group sightseeing tour destination; our docents are current and retired ED TEL employees who take pride in sharing history.

Special Events

The museum features an impressive collection of telephone-related artifacts. Exhibits document how the telephone has developed from its early stages to present day communications technology and explore how electricity, sound waves and magnetism interact.

From Alexander Graham Bell’s original gallows frame phone to rotary dial phones, the museum boasts an unparalleled and fascinating collection of telephone history. Additionally, exhibits include manual switchboards and step-by-step private automatic branch exchanges illustrating stepping switch principles as well as candlestick and wooden wall telephones and antique line insulators.

The Telephone Historical Centre is dedicated to the acquisition, research, organization, documentation, exhibition and storage of historical materials pertaining to telephone technology and related telecommunications devices. First opened its doors for public viewing in Old Strathcona in 1987 before moving to its current home at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre in 2004. However, its foundation that owned and ran it disbanded due to relevancy and structural concerns earlier this year.

Today, calling someone is often like performing a magic trick – but that wasn’t always the case.

The Telephone Historical Centre provides visitors with an exhibition of manual switchboards and an early private automatic branch exchange, and also hosts workshops designed to develop young engineers’ engineering abilities. Furthermore, engaging young people with old telephones fosters their intrinsic curiosity.

Exhibits

This collection takes you on an immersive tour of communications technology over time. Discover a working switchboard and how the telephone transformed lives for the better, meet those behind its development from smoke signals to text messages, learn about linemen who erected poles, buried cables, and created equipment designed specifically to run networks, as well as learn more about who the linemen themselves were who designed equipment that ran them all.

THG is a non-profit organization dedicated to collecting and preserving antique telephone related items. Operating two museums as well as an extensive archive, its collections comprise one of the world’s largest collections.

Archival holdings at the museum feature phones from all around the world as well as historic telecom items like working Strowger phone exchange, manual switchboard, and Step-by-Step private automatic branch exchange demonstrating how switching stations operated. Furthermore, displays of glass insulators and recreations of independent exchanges honor rural and small town Midwest communities served by independent phone companies prior to being acquired by Bell System.

Events

The museum provides an ideal venue to learn about telecommunications history. Its collection covers more than 100 years of communications technology – from Alexander Graham Bell’s original telegraph machine through modern mobile phone networks and their innovations.

The collection features antique rotary dial and magneto phones, manual switchboards, as well as a two-position Kellogg Universal switchboard that allows visitors to easily connect cord pairs and lamp pairs via toggle switches.

The museum provides hands-on “how-things-work” exhibits designed to foster an appreciation of science and engineering. Group tours of 10 or more people may take a guided tour through this historic 1896 building housed at Jefferson Barracks; tours may also be arranged by appointment. Established by retired employees from ED TEL in Old Strathcona on December 3, 1987 before moving its current location Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre on April 6, 2004.

Donations

Our collections continue to expand thanks to the generosity of donors. The Museum and Archives accept any material related to telecommunications history – artifacts, photos, manuscripts, documents, maps, architectural drawings and sound recordings are welcome – plus all donations are tax deductible!

Each collection donated to the Society comes complete with a Gift Agreement which details when, by whom and transfers ownership of material. Furthermore, copies are scanned and archived digitally so they are readily available for research on our website.

The Telephone Historical Centre offers hands-on exhibits that illustrate communications principles, as well as a world-class multi media Historical Telecommunications Theatre Show. Housed within Prince of Wales Armouries and accredited by Museums Alberta, its Museum and Archives are operated by non-profit charitable organization Telecommunications History Group; under this umbrella lies physical Museum & Archives as well as Connections Museum Seattle/Denver locations as well as online archives like Telecommunications History Archive.

Volunteers

Volunteers form the backbone of our Society’s daily operations. Volunteers range from students, workers and retired persons donating their time for no financial return – or medical or legal professionals working pro bono as professionals who offer pro bono services to us.

Museum volunteers welcome and inform museum visitors, give tours of the Museum and Depot and assist with special events and exhibits. Office volunteers assist staff members with data entry, filing, filing maintenance tasks as well as curatorial volunteers in filling artifact catalog worksheets as well as performing other maintenance and data entry duties.

Photographic volunteers capture digital photos around Bloomington to accompany Social Media posts, newspaper articles and displays. Once taken, identify and download digital images onto Museum computers or back-up media.

Membership Development Volunteers assist the Society’s efforts to recruit new members by reviewing mailing lists, drafting fundraising letters and thank you letters, phone solicitation and performing other administrative work. Special Event Volunteers support annual festivals and special museum events by serving food, greeting guests, registering people for activities and providing any assistance necessary for participants.

The Telephone Historical Centre Collections showcase a variety of antique phones, switchboards and related telecommunication equipment. Colorful painted backdrops adorn equipment displays like two switchboards (including one featuring an eccentric scene from Plains), the last Step-by-Step private automatic branch exchange system and panel systems.

Subject Files contain letters and diaries written by Alexander Graham Bell that cover various subjects, such as his scientific research, aviation and deaf education.

The History of the Telephone

The telephone has long been one of the world’s most iconic pieces of technology. It paved the way for convenient communication across great distances – even across countries!

Not always easy to determine the inventor of an invention, the telephone was no different. In fact, it took years before it became clear that Alexander Graham Bell invented it.

Gray and Bell filed separate patent applications on February 14, 1876; however, due to an oversight on behalf of their lawyers, due to heavy patent office congestion Bell’s application was registered first.

Gray was instrumental in developing the telephone, while Bell may have come up with the microphone idea. Our collection contains items from telecom history such as rotary dial phones and manual switchboards – and future plans call for an exhibit devoted to switchboards in a dedicated building! These goals can only be accomplished with your help!

The Bell Collection

The museum houses an abundance of telephone-related objects spanning the history of telecommunications. Key highlights include an operator switchboard, step-by-step private automatic branch exchange system and mobile phone exhibit that displays how this technology has advanced from 1980s car phones to modern cellular phones.

George Tanner began collecting Knox County telephone communications equipment and artifacts early in his career at Mount Vernon Telephone Company. His collection of photographs, memories and equipment tells the tale of over one century of telephone communications in this region.

The Telephone Historical Centre’s collection also boasts an eclectic range of antique telephones and telecom technology dating back to 1920, such as phone kiosks that have long defined Britain. One of its specialities is BT KX100 Plus Internet Kiosks which make for fascinating viewing as well as opportunities for interactive playback by visitors; such an approach makes the Telephone Historical Centre truly different than any other museum experience.

The Telephone Experience

This collection presents an assortment of antique telephones and related telecommunications technology from Edmonton’s telephone history as it evolved from manual switching to automatic switching. Artifacts and replicas in this display showcase its significance.

The museum features an interactive Kellogg universal switchboard – an engaging visitor exhibit enabling guests to connect telephone circuits using toggle switches – using cord pairs and lamp pairs, similar to what was used until automated systems became popular in the 1920s.

This collection includes several of Britain’s iconic red telephone kiosks – a feature of British roadsides since their first standard design was unveiled in 1920. These iconic icons of our cultural heritage remain an integral part of local communities today with many being regularly in use by regular users.

The Archive

The Museum features an expansive collection of telephones, equipment and other telecommunications technology ranging from early manual system phones that first arrived in Edmonton back in 1885 to more contemporary automatic switching telephones – something to please every telecommunications enthusiast!

This collection of Canadian telecom history is one of the largest. It documents the development of phone technologies from their early manufacturing stages to current research laboratories.

This collection is truly fascinating and unique; almost a museum within a museum! There are endless lit glass racks containing candlestick phones, box phones and rotary dial phones; the McKinley phone (1897), used to report President William McKinley’s assassination; Hush-a-phones used for private conversations (Hushu-a-phone); as well as an actual manual switchboard that operators would once use in telephone exchanges – it even works!

The Telephone Historical Centre offers visitors an intriguing glimpse at various telephones and tools created over time since their invention. Children will especially enjoy seeing how far technology has advanced since first telephone was first invented!

The museum features working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches, a Step-by-Step Private Automatic Branch Exchange system and hundreds of pieces of telephone equipment.

The History of the Telephone

Today, making phone calls seems effortless – with just the push of a button you are connected with your mother in Philadelphia or best friend in New York. But it wasn’t always so straightforward.

Early telephones weren’t great at working over long distances, but nonetheless were an incredible invention that helped people in many ways. For example, it allowed for improved privacy by replacing unexpected visits from relatives or door-to-door salesmen with calls on the telephone instead.

Alexander Graham Bell is often credited as being the one to invent the telephone, but other scientists were also working on similar technologies at that time. There has been much debate regarding who actually invented it.

Early Telephones

Starting as a simple handset that contained both transmitter and receiver components, the phone allowed for users to communicate without an operator being involved.

Chimu culture of Peru invented string telephones using gourds and stretched hide; an original example can be seen at the Smithsonian.

In 1876, Bell developed and patented an electromagnetic telephone that allowed for mechanically conveyed sounds over long wires and also featured a system for vocalization that enabled one person to speak over it.

Antonio Meucci and Phillip Reis worked on similar devices; however, their designs weren’t feasible on a commercial scale.

The telephone revolutionized communication, opening up real-time dialogue among individuals. This breakthrough revolutionised business and society alike; in 1915 the first long distance call took place between President of Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company (now AT&T) and Sir Evelyn P Murray from British General Post Office.

Modern Telephones

Visitors of the Telephone Historical Centre will discover a cavernous space filled with more retro telecom technology than an early James Bond movie. Tour guides don’t hesitate to let visitors try out everything from metal cans on wires to crank phones and multiple large switching systems – and allow visitors to explore each piece freely.

The museum features an impressive collection of phones, including an exact replica of Alexander Graham Bell’s first phone which played “Mr. Watson, Come Here! I Need You!,” modern videophones and working step switch private automatic branch exchange. In addition, there is a modern cellular phone exhibit which showcases how mobile technology has advanced from its early roots up until present day smartphones.

George Tanner, who established the museum, started collecting Knox County telephone memorabilia as a hobby at his own home. Over time his collection expanded to include wooden wall phones from 1890’s, various rotary dial and push button phones as well as old switches.

Switching Equipment

A large part of our collection consists of electromechanical switches. Thanks to volunteers who regularly exercise them, most remain operational.

We house one of only two functioning Strowger single-line step by step switches in existence – another can be found at the Telephone Museum in Ellsworth, Maine). Designed before modern automatic systems could recognize callers’ prefixes and join them into conversations seamlessly, this switch was built before we used computer programs to simulate calls in order to keep our equipment fit for service.

Sarah Autumn, one of our volunteer specialists, spent months reassembling this intricate panel switch system which covers several corridors with equipment racks. Sarah described it not as broken but as an example of “graceful engineering woven into an extraordinarily complex device.” Once used by a rural exchange and connecting up to 200 telephones simultaneously in a community.

This museum houses a wide collection of telephones and related objects. Visitors can explore on their own and enjoy this fun family outing or school field trip experience.

After public outrage over the disappearance of classic red telephone boxes, BT’s Payphone Division approached Avoncroft about funding an exhibition on their behalf titled Hello Montreal! which features the history and impact of telecom services on various aspects of society.

Manual Telephones

Early manual telephone services required customers to connect their handsets directly to a copper pair connected to a switchboard operated by an operator, with each line connected having one jack with an indicator light above each jack to indicate which number was being dialed. Operators answered customer calls by plugging the ring cord into its respective jack; otherwise they passed them onto an operator in another city who connected it directly with its trunk line leading directly to its destination switchboard or central office.

This collection honors generations of workers who built poles, laid cables, designed technology that transformed communication for us all. Visitors can experience what it was like to use rotary phones before the advent of telecom and learn how the invention of telecom has transformed how we connect. This collection contains numerous artifacts, photographs and records related to telecom.

Switchboards

Reliving telephone technology over the years is easy with our collection. The exhibits bring history alive by inviting visitors to physically interact with them.

NEC defines a switchboard as an assembly of panels, frames and enclosures containing switches, control, measuring, protective, regulating and other equipment that is interconnected by busbars; including associated electrical and mechanical equipment as well as wiring. Switchboards often include current-using equipment like circuit breakers, fuse and ceramic fuses lamps pushbuttons meters and indicators.

Early days of telephony saw people going out and installing poles, burying cables, designing technologies to allow us to communicate across networks. Our collections honor those generations of workers who laid this groundwork, with an amazing exhibit featuring old and vintage switchboards to commemorate them and their contribution.

Mobile Telephones

From early mobiles to an array of cell towers and smartphones, visitors can witness how cellular telephony has developed over time. Cellphones have quickly become the go-to device for personal communication in many countries around the globe.

This exhibit honors those generations of individuals who helped bring telephony to reality – those who installed poles, laid cables, designed telephone systems and managed them; in short, those who helped change our world as it is known today.

This hands-on museum exhibit boasts an extensive collection of artifacts to delight people of all ages. Test your skill with the working switchboard or test out a display telephone to witness first-hand how PBX technology revolutionized business and personal communications, respectively. Children will love exploring interactive displays, background projections and songs while adults will find historic artifacts engaging. Many displays come equipped with QR codes so visitors can connect their smart phone directly with information regarding these pieces – creating an enjoyable learning experience for everyone who comes through its doors!

Electronics

As well as phones, our collection also encompasses an assortment of electronic devices like computers, tablets, printers and much more. In particular, our “Telephone Workshops” serve as an engaging and educational way for young minds to discover electrical engineering through older and newer telephones.

Children of all ages will love taking on the roles of 1920s rotary dial operators or seeing how loudly they can speak on wind-up phones. Novelty phones such as Coke bottles, Hershey’s chocolate bars or Garfield the cat may also be available for guests to try.

Established by retired employees from ED TEL, the museum first opened on December 3, 1987 in Edmonton’s Old Strathcona neighbourhood before moving to its current home at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre. Boasting an expansive array of equipment such as Alexander Graham Bell’s gallows frame telephone and Thomas A. Watson’s thrumper phone as well as an operational hands-on switchboard, its collections contain many historical pieces dating back over three decades.