A group of retired and active telecommunications employees realized that historical items were being lost when buildings were demolished or departments closed, so in 1990 they organized the Telecommunications History Group (THG). Their aim was to collect these artifacts for preservation purposes while creating an online museum to house their collection.

At the Telephone Historical Centre, visitors have an opportunity to gain a unique perspective of communications technology’s evolution. Here you will find working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches; Step-by-Step private automatic branch exchanges and various pieces of equipment on display.

Admission

The Telephone Historical Centre is Canada’s premier museum showcasing telecom history. Established by retired ED TEL employees in 1987, the museum first opened to the public on Dec 3, 1987 in an Old Strathcona telephone exchange building and moved later that year to Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre in central Edmonton. There, visitors can explore a collection of original and replica telephones dating back to Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1878; other exhibits include manual operator switchboards; Step-by-Step private automatic branch exchange demonstrating stepping switch principle; along with various other equipment and tools related to telephone related products and tools related to telephone related equipments.

Researchers will find an extensive cataloged reference library available, as well as a small gift shop and educational workshops available for school and youth groups. Admission to the Telephone Historical Centre is by donation with children and seniors receiving discounts.

Guided Tours

Our guided tours bring the history and innovations surrounding telephone technology to life. Learn about Alexander Graham Bell’s 1876 patent as well as those who constructed and maintained its nationwide network.

Our exhibits showcase working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches; antique telephones and switchboards, outside plant displays featuring poles, cables and splicing equipment, hundreds of telephone-related items as well as an expansive cataloged telecommunication reference library.

When traveling in groups, schedule a tour with one of our knowledgeable volunteers during regular museum hours. Tours will last approximately 30-40 minutes.

Special Events

Telephone Historical Centre was established by retired ED TEL employees in 1987 and quickly became a tourist draw. Housed initially in a former telephone exchange building in Old Strathcona until 2004, when it moved to its present home of Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre in central Edmonton.

The museum boasts an extensive collection of telephones, switchboards and equipment dating back to Alexander Graham Bell’s first patent application of 1876. Additionally, there is an extensive library with books related to telephone technology as well as technical journals.

The museum features several exhibits related to telephones: a manual telephone switchboard, an Automatic Step-by-Step Branch Exchange that demonstrates its Stepping Switch Principle and mobile telephone display cases, plus numerous novelty handsets.

Volunteer Opportunities

Our volunteer program gives individuals the chance to gain experience at our Museum and in history in general, as well as collaborate with staff on short and long-term projects that benefit museum operations, artifact preservation and research.

Volunteers are an integral part of our museum, and we welcome enthusiastic people with excellent customer service skills who can greet visitors in person or over the telephone. Volunteers also assist with special events, provide craft materials for education programs and museum activities, answer phones or enter tour guide requests into a computer system system for our Education office, assist at special events and provide craft materials as part of education programs or museum activities and support our education office by answering phones or entering tour guide requests into it.

College junior, senior and graduate students looking for practical experience in archives and museums may apply. Our Collections Internship provides hands-on experience organizing archival collections, entering data into PastPerfect databases, cataloguing artifacts and providing community service hours – it may even count for college credits! These internships are unpaid but may be available for college credit or community service hours.

As digital communication has taken over our lives, it is easy to forget about how far back telephone technology had come. At the Telephone Historical Centre’s collection, this fascinating history of telephone is revealed.

Roger Kaufman, retired President of Gridley Telephone Company, amassed artifacts and collectibles related to his business in hopes of opening a museum dedicated to them.

Manual System Telephones

Before the days of rotary dial service and automated exchanges, telephones were connected through manual system exchanges. These manually operated systems connected local calls by using patch cords and magneto crank phones – and operators got to know their customers personally. Independent telephone companies utilized manual exchanges as they did not justify automated equipment for serving rural and small town areas; manual exchanges were also employed on ships prior to marine radio being introduced as an option.

These wood three box wall phones were an early model with wooden handles that moved between mouth and ear during conversation, popular up until the turn of the 20th century. Stored in temperature-controlled vaults for easy accessing advanced features that had to be memorized previously, these artifacts offer intuitive softkey access rather than memorizing advanced features needed by prior models.

Automatic System Telephones

An automated telephone system enables callers to interact with each other without human interference, saving both time and money while optimizing agent availability, providing exceptional service for customers.

Early automated systems like this one relied on electromechanical switches to route speech between callers. Compared with operator-controlled switchboards of the late 19th century, these systems proved more reliable but more expensive to operate and frequently required upgrades and adjustments.

Automatic dial exchanges took the responsibility for connecting calls away from subscribers and put it directly in their own hands, by reading the numbers pressed onto phone keys to determine which circuit was available and connecting. This system allowed scalable networks that could encompass cities or even countries – an invaluable invention that revolutionized life – however during its early days privacy concerns loomed large as most homes weren’t wired and public phones allowed anyone who heard your conversations to access your private conversations without fearing eavesdroppers hearing your personal conversations on public phones – something phones today cannot do.

Telephone Kiosks

The iconic red telephone box, or kiosk as it is more commonly known, has long been an icon of Britain. Since 1920 when the Post Office released their standard design design of telephone boxes across Britain and beyond Empire. Since that time they can be found everywhere from local streetsides to national landmarks.

As soon as BT announced plans to sell off its payphones there was widespread outrage from across the nation and public campaigns successfully saved iconic red kiosks from being scrapped altogether. While attempts were made at replacing them with designs that looked similar to garish 1980s garden sheds; their classic counterparts remain.

Kiosks provide an ideal venue for advertising as they remain highly visible to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic for extended periods. MediaLease OOH offers several forms of kiosk advertising including City Panels that appear on the back side (street-side) of public telephone structures, and Super City Panels with backlit LED displays displaying changing messages.

Telephone Directories

Antique telephones and telecommunication technology tell a unique tale of innovation, culture and society through interactive exhibits that invite visitors to engage with these artifacts.

Telephone directories are books containing lists of residential and business telephone numbers and street addresses (in the White pages), or subject listings for businesses (Yellow pages). Alphabetically-arranged directories can also be classified by subject area – at our library we offer several different kinds of directories from multiple time periods!

An advanced telephone dialler has been created that enables fast retrieval and dialling of numbers stored in telephone directories. Its memory is organized into pages with options to lock specific ones; access codes assigned to their owners control these pages’ access rights and enable owners to lock certain pages as desired. When an incoming call comes through it is checked against numbers stored on that page with any extra details being stored into memory and displayed via alphanumeric displays.

Former and current telecom employees as well as their families will find the Telephone Historical Centre an enjoyable and educational experience. Here, visitors can relive more than 100 years of technological advances while learning more about those who helped to establish this network of telephone service.

This museum first opened on December 3, 1987 in a telephone exchange building in Old Strathcona and later relocated to Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre. However, due to relevance issues, financial issues and structural concerns it closed in April 2019 for good.

Collections

The Telephone Historical Centre houses an expansive collection of artifacts, equipment and history related to telephone technology at this museum – one of the largest of its kind in North America! Additionally, this museum offers many activities suitable for all ages to enjoy.

This series comprises various files detailing town histories, exchanges and facts, buildings, storms and disasters as well as personal recollections including some scrapbooks. A large binder with newspaper clippings related to SNET promotions is also included.

This series is divided into two subseries; Contemporary and Historical. Contemporary photographs are organized alphabetically while the Historical subseries attempt to follow a 1991 SNET records management schedule, with historical photos organized alphabetically by subject heading. Many older SNET photos in protective sheets or folders require special care when handling, while some images are large and fragile; four flap enclosures provide protection from handling. It is an absolute must see for anyone interested in Edmonton’s communications history! This collection should not be missed!

Exhibits

Alberta’s telephone era is depicted through photos, news articles and artifacts from this collection that tell its tale of innovation, technology, business and people.

Artifacts and replicas help visitors trace the history of telephone use in Edmonton and North America through time. From early wooden three-box wall telephones to more familiar rotary dial handsets, this collection shows how technology has advanced from manual switching to automatic switching over time. Furthermore, many artifacts feature QR codes which visitors can scan with their smart phones to gain more information on each piece in the collection.

The museum features working switches and other exhibits that enable visitors to experience telephone history first-hand. Notable examples include a manual system step-by-step private automatic branch exchange that illustrates line switching used before electronic switching systems became prevalent; and mobile telephone display that tracks their development from 1980s car phones to modern cellular technologies.

Archives

Edmonton and Alberta can discover their telecommunications history in our extensive archives, which contain an abundance of historical photographs, news articles and memorabilia from Edmonton’s telecom past.

Archival material is an invaluable asset for researchers, students and the general public alike. Sheldon Hochheiser of AT&T Corporate History Department shares some of its many strengths.

One of the most significant documents is Thomas Watson’s notebook in which he recorded his first attempt at transmitting intelligible speech on March 10th 1876 and it still gives him chills today.

The Telecommunications History Group (THG) is an umbrella non-profit organization comprised of two physical museums located in Seattle and Denver as well as an extensive digital archive that features historic directories, photographs and slides as well as books and stock certificates as well as oral histories with former telephone industry employees – this information can be viewed upon appointment.

Events

Today, making phone calls can seem like performing a magical act: grab your cell phone and push a button – voila – your mom in Philadelphia or grandma in Florida are now speaking directly with you! At Oklahoma City’s Telephone Historical Centre you can see all the equipment that made this possible — even old phones with wires and cords attached!

The museum boasts memorabilia from past Olympic Games and Albuquerque Balloon Fiestas, along with antique telephone tools and an active switchboard suitable for demonstration purposes. All this can be found housed within its four-story former telephone building from 1906 that once housed Bell System operators connecting New Mexico with other parts of the nation.

The Telephone Historical Centre, founded in 1987, is a volunteer-run non-profit 501(c)3 organization. Nominated for a Laurel Award presented by Duncan & Craig LLP of Edmonton to community-based organizations who demonstrate innovative and creative approaches to fulfilling their missions, it received this honor in 2015.

The Telephone Historical Centre is an engaging museum featuring numerous exhibits. Visitors can explore communications technology through hands-on displays as well as its collection of working operator switchboards and military telephones.

The Museum boasts functional Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches, antique telephones, outside plant displays with poles, cables, splicing equipment, tools and much more.

The Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War

From the late 1800s on, historians have searched Gettysburg’s bloodstained battlefield for artifacts that illustrate its significance. Now, its museum houses one of the largest collections of Civil War relics in America.

The museum features two main attractions; A New Birth of Freedom narrated by Morgan Freeman and the 377 foot diameter and 42 foot high Cyclorama painting depicting Pickett’s Charge that took more than one year to create.

David Wills House is another must-see attraction and President Lincoln stayed here while writing the Gettysburg Address. This seven-gallery museum tells Wills’ story along with that of Gettysburg via exhibits and audio/visual presentations; visitors should allow at least an hour and a half for their visit to fully appreciate everything this place has to offer.

The Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum

Johannes and Schaper report that most visitors to their museum have been nostalgic older people as well as curious younger visitors.

This was one of the earliest military installations west of the Mississippi River, serving as a recruiting and outfitting depot and hub for western military expeditions. Its soldiers saw action in nearly every American conflict including Civil War. Furthermore, it also functioned as a hospital treating more injured soldiers than any other post.

The museum is housed in a former officers’ quarters that was constructed in 1896 and features exhibits organized chronologically with accompanying photographs and information panels. Highlights of the display include an early candlestick phone that operated by cranking cylinders for calls; an anachronistic leg-worn rotary dial telegraph used to send Morse code between fields; as well as an elaborate operator switchboard containing all its equipment – an undertaking of Telecom Pioneers, an organization comprised of retired Bell employees that worked tirelessly on their project.

The A&H’s Telephone Museum

A&H’s Telephone Museum takes visitors on an educational journey through communications technology and the history of telephones. Featuring working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches, antique telephones, switchboards, outside plant displays of poles and cables as well as splicing equipment and tools as well as an annotated cataloged telecommunications reference library – there is something here for every telephone enthusiast at A&H!

These exhibits tell the tale of how local resident Carl Galloway’s creation of Winter Park Telephone Company contributed to its rapid development and success, as well as detailing telephone technology throughout history, featuring numerous hands-on displays.

Group tours for 10 or more may be booked two weeks in advance and feature the Maitland Art Center, a contemporary art gallery; Maitland Historical Museum; and Telephone Museum on its main campus.

The Art & History Museums of Maitland are recognized as a National Historic Landmark and represent Greater Orlando’s only art and history museum. They house Maitland Art Center, Telephone Museum, Waterhouse Residence Museum & Carpentry Shop Museum as well as artist residencies.

The Connections Museum

The Telecom Pioneers, an organization of retired telephone and telecom employees who want to preserve old technology, operate this non-profit museum. Situated within an old CenturyLink (former Southwestern Bell and AT&T) central office building in Seattle, its exhibits include many exhibits dating back to 1920s and 1960s including operator switchboards; numerous pieces of telephone-related equipment; hundreds of historical telephones as well as poles, cables, splicing equipment and tools from outside plant displays.

One of the main attractions at the museum are its working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches, said Sarah Autumn, one of its volunteer phone workers at the museum. These “magic machines” can only be found at two other remaining No 5 crossbar offices (one is at The Telephone Museum in Ellsworth, Maine) but still allow calls between switches through an emulated telephone number using computer programs which constantly simulate calls between switches, keeping their equipment exercising itself.

Although many technologies have become peripheral, the telephone remains central to social interactions and identity projects across a spectrum of social settings. This special issue seeks to further our knowledge of its history through case studies with novel perspectives and unconventional approaches.

The museum is owned and managed by Telecom Pioneers, an association of retired telecom professionals. Volunteers operate it.

Founded in 1987

The Telephone Historical Centre is the largest facility of its kind in North America, perfect for all ages and offering hands-on learning of history.

From Alexander Graham Bell’s attic workshop to today’s flip phones, discover how communications technology has advanced throughout its history. Take part in an actual switching station test or hear about one local entrepreneur who used phones to improve customer service at his father’s grocery store.

In 1987, the museum was established by ED TEL retirees and employees as an effort to preserve Edmonton’s telephony history. It features hands-on exhibits as well as multi-media presentations. Furthermore, there is a comprehensive library containing books related to telephone technology; antique telephones; memorabilia; plus there is even replacement parts available here! It serves both family histories research as well as providing replacement parts. This museum stands as Canada’s only such institution – visitors may even discover replacements parts for their antique phones while searching family trees at once!

Laurel Award Nominee

Today, making phone calls seems almost like magic: all it takes is one touch and push of a button before instantly talking with your mom in Philadelphia, grandma in Florida or best friend in New York. But visit the Telephone Museum and you’ll discover it wasn’t always this easy – back then there were wires and cords everywhere!

Girlguiding’s second highest honor, the Laurel Award is bestowed upon members who have made an exceptional contribution to guiding. This usually means being active within their district, division and county; holding various roles within these structures; acting as an outstanding leader within their community and being an example to all around.

Nominees must be proposed by members of their relevant commission and, after being discussed with their commissioner, should include a fully completed awards application form, member’s Guiding History Report and no more than eight letters of support from individual leaders and/or committees.

Located in the Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre

The Telephone Historical Centre (THC) of Edmonton is an Edmonton museum dedicated to preserving the history of telecommunications technology, making it Canada’s sole telephone museum. Established by retired ED TEL employees and opened to the public on December 3, 1987 in an old telephone exchange building located near Old Strathcona before moving its operations to its current home at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre in 2004.

This interactive museum showcases a vast collection of telephones, tools and other artifacts from years gone by. A great place for children to learn how technology has progressed since their invention; plus there’s even an award-winning multi-media Historical Telecommunications Theatre Show to enjoy!

The museum is open from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM from Monday to Saturday and closed on Sundays and holidays. Admission fees can be adjusted depending on one’s ability, while group rates are also offered. In addition to these items, this museum also houses the Loyal Edmonton Regiment Military Museum as well as several artifacts from local telephone systems including copper cabling, manhole covers and collectible insulators.

Open to the Public

The Centre is open to the public for research, organization, storage and display of historical materials related to the invention and development of telephones. Owned by a foundation that is accredited with Museums Alberta; their focus is preserving Edmonton’s communication history rather than turning a profit.

The Museum boasts a working switchboard, step-by-step private automatic branch exchange, and hundreds of pieces of telephone equipment on display. Exhibits showcase the history and significance of telephone use across cultures and commerce around the globe while honoring craftsmanship, ingenuity, and industry of pioneers who pioneered telecommunication technology.

This museum is one of its kind in Canada and provides an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the exciting history of telephones. Their collection ranges from wooden prototypes all the way up to modern mobile phones – it even boasts interactive and educational exhibits ensuring everyone will find something of interest here! This makes a fantastic spot for family visits or group outings!