The exhibition honors generations of people who put up poles, buried cables and developed and managed technology that revolutionized how we communicate. This collection features virtually every form of communication used on Guernsey up until the mid 1990s.
Documents, equipment samples and photographs in this archive documenting the evolution of communications from Edmonton’s first manual system telephone in 1885 up until today’s mobile phones.
Manual System Telephones
Prior to automatic number identification (ANI), customers would contact a human operator in order to place long distance calls. On making an incoming call, the operator would check an indicator light for the telephone number that had come through, then connect the ringing cord into its respective jack field in the switchboard or central office to connect it and place the call.
At that time, manual system phones were equipped with a rotary dial and included the Western Electric Candlestick Phones. For rural and small town usage, magneto phones were preferred – their subscribers turning a crank would generate an alarm signal to alert the operator while dry cell batteries provided power for transmitting it directly.
Manual service required customers to be connected manually by operators following verbal instructions. For instance, when someone in a manual exchange (e.g. TAylor 4725) called LEnnox 5813 at another central office and dialed it directly, an operator would plug a cord into its trunk for that destination.
Telephone Booths
A telephone booth (also referred to as a public call box, telephone kiosk or payphone) is a small structure designed for user comfort that houses a payphone and usually features privacy doors as well as window indicators to indicate when it is in use; some booths even come equipped with paper directories containing local phone numbers.
Pointe-a-Calliere’s collection of phones and related artifacts honors generations of people who worked tirelessly to develop telephony, construct poles and bury cables, design network technology to run networks efficiently, install phones in homes, offices, schools and businesses, design new networks if needed and install phones for homes, offices schools and businesses alike. It features many intriguing artifacts.
Visitors to London can also witness one of Britain’s iconic cultural symbols – the red telephone box (known as a booth in America). Although these iconic boxes are slowly disappearing from public view, some can still be found around Britain and former colonies with histories of colonialism; some even provide services such as Internet access or SMS text messaging!
Telephone Directories
The Collection holds directories dating back to 1878. These records not only include subscribers’ addresses but also exchange opening dates and local managers of Bell. Furthermore, independent company locations and subscribers are listed.
These directories can be searched alphabetically or alphabetically by address. Early directories included people’s professions and whether or not they rented or owned their homes, in addition to listing residential subscribers and advertising, maps of rapid transit systems, street maps and guides as well as lists of churches, schools, government offices and charitable organizations.
Many directories offer sections dedicated to elite businesses and shopping and restaurant guides. If you know your ancestor’s occupation, check this section of a directory. Directories also often contain instructions (for dialing specific numbers or emergency services information). Our collection houses telephone equipment, catalogues, photos and artifacts relating to civil defence and emergency services; highlights of this collection include book of sketches detailing construction of Beaver Hall building cornerstone; tools used by telephone linemen; as well as wire from early Brantford test runs.
Photographs
The Museum’s vast collection of artifacts and replicas tell the story of how telecommunication technology changed our lives, from erecting poles and burying cables, to designing and managing technology used to run networks, many people contributed towards building the system we know as modern telephony today.
The Photography department of the Museum is one of its oldest. With an emphasis on American 20th-century photography by major practitioners such as Paul Strand, Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Andre Kertesz and Ilse Bing among many others; highlights also include early full-plate daguerreotypes by William Henry Fox Talbot who used photography to document natural history and architectural subjects as well as 19th-century lunar studies from various makers.
Series VII: Photographs is organized into three subseries: Contemporary, Contemporary Oversized and Transparencies. The Contemporary subseries is alphabetically organized by subject matter and contains 3 by 5 or 4 by 6 print photographs enclosed in clear protective sheets with titles, dates, SNET job numbers and sometimes locations written on them; whilst Contemporary Oversized holds larger transparencies used as publication covers or for advertising that were often grouped alphabetically by subject matter.
