The museum provides a history of the telephone from Alexander Graham Bell’s attic workshop to modern day phones, including preservation of equipment used for building and maintaining telephone wire networks.
It features working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches, crank wall phones, decorator phones and outside plant displays featuring poles, cables and splicing tools – one of the largest hands-on museums in North America.
ED TEL Telecom Museum
This museum can be found in Leslie, an idyllic town of New Hampshire. Housed within an original cotton warehouse from 1910, visitors can explore exhibits to gain an understanding of telecommunication technology since its earliest days of telephone. Audio clips offer further insights into its history.
The museum features an impressive selection of antique phones, including rotary models, candlestick phones, wooden wall-mount phones and phone booths. There’s also an operating switchboard and linemen’s tools; visitors may even get a peek of parts from Alexander Graham Bell’s original device!
This museum provides guided or self-guided tours of its exhibits, which include a replica of Shanghai’s first public phone station on Mianjin Lane and Edouard Suenson – the Dane who established Great Northern Telegraph Company and introduced phone services into Shanghai in 1881 – bronze statue. There are also exhibits detailing Shanghai’s telecommunications history from wire to wireless technologies.
Telephone Museum of New Mexico
The Telephone Museum of New Mexico provides visitors with an interactive experience back to when Alexander Graham Bell introduced wired communication into our lives. Working equipment displays demonstrate just how rapidly technology has transformed from rotary phones to smart phones in recent decades.
As you explore its four floors, it will become evident how fast our world has changed since a wooden prototype was first patented in 1876. Additionally, this museum houses an operating Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switch; antique candlestick wall phones; old box phones as well as one of North America’s largest telecommunications reference libraries as well as outdoor plant exhibits featuring poles, wires and splicing equipment.
Volunteers at the museum include former phone workers who are passionate about passing on their knowledge to future generations. Their presence makes the museum an enjoyable, educational experience for children as well as adults alike.
Telephone Museum of Texas
The Museum of Telephony is a non-profit organization committed to the preservation and education of telephone history. Featuring early phones and related equipment – from 1950 Ford trucks used to set poles, CATV equipment, switchboards and audio headsets so visitors can hear clickety-clack sounds and ring tones from old phones – to an extensive cataloged reference library with historic photos – The Museum features all aspects of telephone history in one convenient place!
Established by retired phone company employees who feared that historic artifacts might be lost due to building demolition or departments deeming them obsolete, this telephone museum preserves communications technology from Alexander Graham Bell’s original wooden prototype to today’s cell phones. It features working Step-by-Step and Crossbar electromechanical central office type switches; antique wooden box phones; candlestick wall phones; decorator phones as well as decorator models in its collection as well as its archives housing original volumes of vintage telephone directories and technical manuals from its archives.
It boasts an operational Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office system as well as outdoor plant displays featuring poles cables splicing equipment tools and an expansive cataloged telecommunication reference library. Knowledgable docents (both current and retired telecommunication workers) offer group and individual tours through this hands-on museum.
Telephone Museum of Arizona
The Telephone Museum of Arizona is an incredible museum dedicated to the history and development of telephone communication. Exhibits trace its progress, from Alexander Graham Bell’s “gallows frame” phone through today’s smartphones that we carry in our pockets. Many exhibits at this hands-on museum can be experienced first-hand such as antique crank wall phones, candlestick phones and large switchboards; volunteers who have previously worked or simply enjoy phones are on staff as guides for visitors.
Established in 1987 by retired ED TEL employees concerned that historic equipment was being lost due to building demolition or disuse, the Museum of Telecom was created in order to save and restore telephone equipment for future generations. Their collection consists of working panel and crossbar electromechanical central office switching systems; antique wooden box phones; candlestick wall phones; replica small town manual exchange; outside plant displays of poles cables splicing tools and an extensive cataloged telecommunication reference library.
