Telephone collectors, hobbyists, and historians converge at this museum – one of the largest of its kind in North America – to display their equipment. There is also an incredible assortment of insulators on display!
This center first opened its doors to visitors on December 3, 1987 in Edmonton’s Old Strathcona neighbourhood before later moving to its current home at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre. A visit here makes for a fantastic family outing or group tour destination!
The Bell Collection
The Bell Collection is an expansive and diverse collection that holds many significant items, including letters from Alexander Graham Bell and his family as well as laboratory notebooks.
These notebooks contain scientific experiments and explorations in fields like acoustics, deaf education, aeronautics and chemistry as well as handwritten drafts of articles or speeches.
The Bells were passionate collectors, and the museum now houses their remarkable collection of British studio pottery from 1920-1980 by such masters as Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, David Leach Richard Batterham Tatsuzo Shimaoka Marianne de Trey Michael Cardew Seth Cardew William Marshall Janet Leach Ladi Kwali & Alan Wallwork among many others.
This collection also comprises numerous bird specimens collected by the Bells and later donated to Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Of these specimens, most (239 of 917 glass plate negatives) were taken during their mission to Lhasa – copies have been identified through close scrutiny under magnification.
The Daubendiek Collection
The lower level is home to one of the first museums dedicated to telephone history in the country. Many items were collected by Jim Daubendiek’s family – General Manager of Jefferson Telecom – who in turn created his own mini “Cabela’s Wall” with animal trophies from hunting expeditions undertaken by our CEO himself.
Hush-A-Phone was an adorable attachment that allowed users to whisper into their phone mouthpiece in private and keep secrets out of reach of prying ears, becoming popular during the 1920s but eventually breaking with Bell System’s hold over telephone equipment. Ericofons were another popular mid-20th Century Jefferson phone, designed in Sweden and produced between 1956 and 1982 as an early precursor of cell phones today; there is even one donated from an ex-Jefferson Telecom employee used in the White House – making for an invaluable collection that any collector, historian or anyone interested in communications technology should visit.
The Roseville Telephone Company Collection
Rarely will you come across a museum that seamlessly blends history, entertainment and education. However, Roseville Telephone Museum presented by SureWest Communications makes an exception!
The 4,500-square-foot museum houses one of the nation’s premier collections of antique telephones, spanning more than 100 years of communication technology innovation both locally and worldwide. Ranging from early switchboards to novelty phones, its exhibits provide visitors with an engaging look into history.
The museum welcomes school field trips and group sight-seeing tours. Their expert staff will lead visitors through its displays, offering insights into the technicalities of telecommunication devices from Morse code telegraphs to modern cell phones – this museum showcases innovation. Also featured is an extensive collection of antique telephone tools such as linemen’s pole climbing stirrups and office telephone computer machines; additionally there’s even a magneto switchboard from Roseville Telephone Company from 1914.
The Virtual Museum of Telecommunications
The Virtual Museum of Telecommunications is an online portal and database featuring digital artefacts related to telecom. The project was undertaken as a collaboration between Connected Earth, museums and heritage centres across North America.
Visitors to this website will gain a wealth of information on the history and impact of telecommunications. Furthermore, an interactive world map allows users to search objects located across collections worldwide.
No matter your interest in history, science, or telecoms – whether history buff, science enthusiast, or collector – the Virtual Museum of Telecommunications should not be missed! Open to everyone around the globe, this resource provides accessible learning resources. With its potential to redefine museum roles in digital societies it should also offer high levels of interactivity and rich content not achievable at traditional museums – this necessitates new standards in object documentation and data enrichment to meet user demands.
