Establish by retired telephone employees concerned that historical equipment might be lost due to departmental discards, this museum protects communications technology. Its collection features working step-and crossbar electromechanical central office type switches; antique wooden box phones with candlestick wall phones; phone booths; open wire insulators as well as old directories and technical manuals.
The Spirit of ’76 Museum
Roseville Telephone Museum first opened to the public in 1994 with an unparalleled collection of telephone artifacts and memorabilia from around the country. Spanning over 4500 square feet, the museum provides visitors with a history lesson ranging from Alexander Graham Bell’s original gallows frame phone to contemporary pocket multifunctional phones available today.
The Museum of Antique Telephone Equipment features an array of vintage telephone equipment, such as wooden box phones, candlestick phones and classic rotary phones from different periods. There are also cases containing open-wire insulators of various shapes, sizes and colors; as well as an original magneto switchboard from Roseville Telephone Company that was in service between 1914 – 2016.
Visitors to the museum can also view early telephone directories and gain an understanding of how individuals were identified based on their profession, spouse’s name and whether or not they owned their home or rented it. Knowledgeable docents – current and retired ED TEL employees volunteering their time – offer tours while explaining its significance – making the museum an ideal setting for family outings, school field trips or group sight-seeing tours.
Cle Elum Telephone Museum
Cle Elum boasts the oldest complete telephone museum west of Mississippi. This museum provides an exhaustive overview of telephone history from its early inception until today; with items spanning Alexander Graham Bell’s invention in 1876 through phones from pre-1900s models to those dating from as late as the 1950s era. Furthermore, many hands-on exhibits and artifacts help visitors gain further knowledge.
The Telephone Museum features working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches as well as other vintage equipment on display in outside plant displays, such as poles, cables, splicing gear and tools. There is also an audio and visual tribute to Sarah “Sally” Rooke of Union County Switchboard Operator fame who refused to evacuate Folsom when it was submerged by flood waters in 1908. This event has its own visual and audio tribute as well.
ED TEL (Edmonton District Telco) volunteers manage and run this museum, making it free for visitors. Donations are welcome but not required.
New Hampshire Telecommunications Museum
Attractively housed within a house on Depot Street in Warner is the Museum of Telecommunication History. Here visitors will discover an extensive array of tangible legacy technology such as working switchboards and linemen’s tools as well as antique phones that range from crank versions used for household phone jacks to the first cell phones available to everyone today.
Visitors to the Telecoms Industry History Center can explore its development through interactive displays and exhibits, while learning about Alexander Graham Bell’s accidental invention of the telephone (and seeing parts from it!). They may also view early hand-crank wall phones which once graced homes.
Visitors to the museum can also gain insight into the development of the phone system from its beginnings in telegraph service to AT&T’s split into seven regional companies now known as Baby Bells. The museum manages to strike an effective balance between technology and local history exhibits that is engaging without becoming boring or didactic.
Museum of Independent Telephony
Gridley Museum offers both entertainment and education to its visitors. This engaging museum pays homage to those who designed, constructed, erected poles for, buried telephone lines worldwide – the people whose job it was. Among its exhibits are old switchboards and an impressive tool collection for visitors to interact with. There are also crank wall phones, decorator phones as well as a recreation of an old phone exchange and glass insulators on display – making for an absorbing visit!
Since Alexander Graham Bell’s patent expired in 1893, nearly 6,000 independent telephone companies (known as independents ) have sprouted nationwide – which are honored at Abilene’s Museum of Independent Telephony.
This museum could easily have become a repository of obsolete technology, but instead makes the past come alive for visitors. Kids especially love playing with rotary phones to pretend make calls; it serves as a great reminder of just how far our world has progressed since 1876! Additionally, The Museum of Independent Telephony runs on limited funds with only two and half full-time staff positions available.
