The museum features wooden box telephones, candlestick wall phones and classic rotary phones as well as antique line insulators from all eras of telephone history. Exotic painted backdrops add visual interest while equipment displays include step-by-step private automatic branch exchange systems and panel systems.
The museum features working Central Office type switching equipment as well as outdoor plant displays of poles, cables and splicing tools. A cataloged library of telecom literature is also available.
History
Few inventions have had as significant an impact on global connectivity as the telephone. To honor its legacy, museums and historical centres dedicated to this seminal invention offer comprehensive accounts of its development as well as showing how its evolution has transformed lives and communication practices over time.
Alexander Graham Bell became known as the “father of the telephone” after successfully litigating against Elisha Gray over credit for this revolutionary invention. Although other inventors predated him (such as Italian innovator Antonio Meucci and French inventor Charles Bourseul), Alexander Graham Bell became widely accepted as its creator due to prevailing in a lengthy intellectual property battle over who truly deserves credit for its creation.
The Phone Museum in Ellsworth is an expansive space bursting with vintage telecommunications technology from years past. From candlestick wall phones and the phone used by telephone operators to report President William McKinley’s death in 1897 to working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches and outside plant displays with poles, cables, splicing equipment and tools; to a catalogued telecommunications reference library and more! The exhibits range from candlestick wall phones all the way through working switchboard exhibits featuring working Panel Crossbar electromechanical central-office switches as well as outside plant displays featuring poles cables, cables splicing equipment & tools and an extensive cataloged reference library on telecom technology history!
Exhibits
The museum showcases exhibits that cover all eras of telephone history from Alexander Bell’s first telephone in 1876 up until mobile technology’s rise today. Visitors can try their luck at working switchboards while learning about communications’ evolution over time.
Highlights of the exhibition include a Kellogg universal switchboard that enables visitors to reenact how operators would have connected circuits years ago – it even works! There is also an impressive display of candlestick wall phones as well as the McKinley phone (1897), used to report President McKinley’s assassination report and early crank telephones from 1897 onwards.
Full-sized magneto switchboard and Step-by-Step automatic branch exchange system highlight the development and impact of telephone technology in business, society and culture. Other exhibits include an expansive reference library as well as outdoor plant displays with poles, wire and splicing equipment – truly an experience not to be missed! One of Canada’s largest and most extensive collections of telephone related items. Do not miss it!
Events
At this museum dedicated to communications technology, visitors will find an impressive collection of telephones and related equipment on display, complete with full-scale mannequins and recorded narration that document innovations in this industry. A working switching station can also be seen here; run by Telecom Pioneers (a non-profit 501(c)(3) Bell System employee service organization), this museum makes for an interactive journey.
From Alexander Graham Bell’s groundbreaking gallows frame phone to modern cell phones, this museum provides an interactive experience for visitors of all ages. Visitors can crank wall phones, operate manual switchboards, dial rotary phones and dial wall phones; while learning about telecom history – especially how privacy was often compromised during early telephone usage when strangers could easily eavesdrop on private conversations.
The Museum of Broadcasting and Telecommunications is an essential visit for anyone who appreciates communications technology. Housed in a restored 1896 building, this attraction hosts an impressive collection of telephones and related equipment; perfect for family adventures, field trips with school groups and group outings alike!
Education
At Historic Jefferson Barracks Park in Cle Elum lies one of the largest collections of telephones and related equipment west of the Mississippi River. This Museum showcases over one century of telephone development from Alexander Graham Bell’s attic workshop to what we all use today – our modern phones.
The Museum is run entirely by volunteers – former and current telecom workers passionate about preserving telephone history. It makes an ideal destination for family visits, school field trips and group sightseeing tours.
Our collection features an exquisite full-sized magneto switchboard, Step-by-Step private automatic branch exchange and rare telephone booths. Our exhibits chronicle technological changes to the telephone while offering fascinating glimpses into business culture and society. Our ‘Telephone Workshops’ encourage enthusiasm for engineering by exploring electric theory, mathematics and engineering with old and new telephones – we even conduct multi-year formative evaluations to assess its effect on participants’ engineering interest, understanding of electric theory as well as historic advancements to semiconductor architecture.
