The Telephone Historical Centre in Edmonton has closed after 31 years of operations due to relevancy and financial challenges, according to its foundation. This decision came about as part of their overall business plan.
Discover our digital collection of United States telephone directories! These books include both business and residential listings; some early directories also contain people’s occupations as well as whether or not they rented or owned their homes.
The Telephone Booth Collection
A telephone booth (also referred to as a kiosk or public call box) is a small structure equipped with a payphone designed for single users to step into and close its door while using.
Berlin witnessed its inaugural telephone kiosk (Fernesprechkiosk), known as Telefonbillets, opening up for use in 1881 and eventually giving way to coin-operated booths.
Since the invention of telephones, countless booths have been invented and deployed; some of them, like the iconic red British phone box, have even become cultural icons.
Modern pay phones have quickly become the preferred replacements for telephone booths in recent decades, such as this example from Munster, Germany which features three sides without doors but without enclosure. It was especially popular during the latter part of the 20th century.
The Bell Telephone Collection
Bell first created and began selling his telephone service in 1877, which quickly proved popular with customers. By 1878 his business had taken off but needed professional management – Gardiner Hubbard, his financial backer and father-in-law suggested Theodore Newton Vail from US Government’s Railway Mail Service take on this challenge.
Vail brought a more businesslike approach to telephone operations and instilled his employees with a new sense of service. He advocated technical improvements such as increased circuit capacity, the use of ground iron wire, and enhanced battery systems; as well as pressuring local companies within the Bell System to standardize equipment more regularly – but often encountered opposition.
Vail left his phone company in 1919 to become president of AT&T and helped ensure the nation had over 60 million telephones; 51 million of which belonged to the Bell System; virtually all were dial operated; and 90% of calls could cross country without switching fees; these successes can be traced directly back to his belief in good relations between public and Bell System operators.
The Telephone Directory Collection
Telephone directories were an effective and lucrative form of advertising in their own day, often competing or outpacing main-media ads for advertisement space. Due to this phenomenon, pressure was applied upon phone directory companies to de-regulate and open up their directories to competitive pressures.
Due to deregulation, a variety of new products and services were made possible. One such innovation was the “reverse directory”, enabling individuals to look up their phone number in the telephone directory for subscriber name, address (if unlisted), phone number information etc.
At the same time, directories themselves experienced profound transformation as they became databases. With each database taking on new characteristics and functions in today’s networked media environment, fierce battles emerged for control of such lists.
The Telephone Kiosk Collection
Any Briton who has traversed the UK will recognise its iconic red telephone boxes. While these have gradually given way to mobile phones, aficionados of them have begun fighting back and their aesthetic appeal is slowly being acknowledged.
Giles Gilbert Scott designed the original red kiosks as part of a competition held in 1924. The winning design, K2, was initially installed in London; however, due to its cost-intensive nature and General Post Office requirements for more cost effective kiosks;
Avoncroft Museum at Bromsgrove in Worcestershire boasts an extensive collection of former GPO national telephone kiosks, such as one from Strowger village in Essex with an operational Unit Automatic Exchange as well as an entire 300 line exchange building from Stapleford. Furthermore, K2 kiosks can also be found here as well as one of only remaining London K1s in existence in Britain.
