Today, calling someone is often like performing a magic trick – but that wasn’t always the case.
The Telephone Historical Centre provides visitors with an exhibition of manual switchboards and an early private automatic branch exchange, and also hosts workshops designed to develop young engineers’ engineering abilities. Furthermore, engaging young people with old telephones fosters their intrinsic curiosity.
Exhibits
This collection takes you on an immersive tour of communications technology over time. Discover a working switchboard and how the telephone transformed lives for the better, meet those behind its development from smoke signals to text messages, learn about linemen who erected poles, buried cables, and created equipment designed specifically to run networks, as well as learn more about who the linemen themselves were who designed equipment that ran them all.
THG is a non-profit organization dedicated to collecting and preserving antique telephone related items. Operating two museums as well as an extensive archive, its collections comprise one of the world’s largest collections.
Archival holdings at the museum feature phones from all around the world as well as historic telecom items like working Strowger phone exchange, manual switchboard, and Step-by-Step private automatic branch exchange demonstrating how switching stations operated. Furthermore, displays of glass insulators and recreations of independent exchanges honor rural and small town Midwest communities served by independent phone companies prior to being acquired by Bell System.
Events
The museum provides an ideal venue to learn about telecommunications history. Its collection covers more than 100 years of communications technology – from Alexander Graham Bell’s original telegraph machine through modern mobile phone networks and their innovations.
The collection features antique rotary dial and magneto phones, manual switchboards, as well as a two-position Kellogg Universal switchboard that allows visitors to easily connect cord pairs and lamp pairs via toggle switches.
The museum provides hands-on “how-things-work” exhibits designed to foster an appreciation of science and engineering. Group tours of 10 or more people may take a guided tour through this historic 1896 building housed at Jefferson Barracks; tours may also be arranged by appointment. Established by retired employees from ED TEL in Old Strathcona on December 3, 1987 before moving its current location Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre on April 6, 2004.
Donations
Our collections continue to expand thanks to the generosity of donors. The Museum and Archives accept any material related to telecommunications history – artifacts, photos, manuscripts, documents, maps, architectural drawings and sound recordings are welcome – plus all donations are tax deductible!
Each collection donated to the Society comes complete with a Gift Agreement which details when, by whom and transfers ownership of material. Furthermore, copies are scanned and archived digitally so they are readily available for research on our website.
The Telephone Historical Centre offers hands-on exhibits that illustrate communications principles, as well as a world-class multi media Historical Telecommunications Theatre Show. Housed within Prince of Wales Armouries and accredited by Museums Alberta, its Museum and Archives are operated by non-profit charitable organization Telecommunications History Group; under this umbrella lies physical Museum & Archives as well as Connections Museum Seattle/Denver locations as well as online archives like Telecommunications History Archive.
Volunteers
Volunteers form the backbone of our Society’s daily operations. Volunteers range from students, workers and retired persons donating their time for no financial return – or medical or legal professionals working pro bono as professionals who offer pro bono services to us.
Museum volunteers welcome and inform museum visitors, give tours of the Museum and Depot and assist with special events and exhibits. Office volunteers assist staff members with data entry, filing, filing maintenance tasks as well as curatorial volunteers in filling artifact catalog worksheets as well as performing other maintenance and data entry duties.
Photographic volunteers capture digital photos around Bloomington to accompany Social Media posts, newspaper articles and displays. Once taken, identify and download digital images onto Museum computers or back-up media.
Membership Development Volunteers assist the Society’s efforts to recruit new members by reviewing mailing lists, drafting fundraising letters and thank you letters, phone solicitation and performing other administrative work. Special Event Volunteers support annual festivals and special museum events by serving food, greeting guests, registering people for activities and providing any assistance necessary for participants.
