Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876 marked an outstanding leap forward in communication technology, opening up long distance calls at affordable rates and facilitating keeping in touch with distant relatives.
This museum pays homage to all those who built the telecommunications network from pole installation and telephone wiring to customer home connections and interactive stations for kids and adults alike.
Hello Montreal!
When telephone service first came to Montreal during its days of wooden sidewalks, horse-drawn trams, and gaslights, it was an absolute revolution! Huge armies of workers needed to erect poles, bury cables and oversee technology – not to mention adapting new ways of communicating among each other and inspiring an entire generation of classic songs like Irving Berlin’s Hello Montreal!
Pointe-a-Calliere boasts one of the richest collections for Montreal telephone history. This exhibit explores all facets of telephone telephony history as a journey back in time and look ahead into its bright future!
The Virtual Museum of Telecommunications
The collection at the museum traces the development of communications from its initial clunky Morse code telegraphs through to modern mobile networks and smartphones. Every piece undergoes a stringent evaluation process before becoming part of its permanent exhibits; emphasis is given to historical significance and relevance when selecting pieces for purchase by the museum.
Exhibits at this museum also highlight the broader effects of landmark technologies, including 911 systems and emergency communication innovations that saved lives during natural disasters or assisted with reconciliation after tragic accidents. For instance, an exhibition about 911 systems and emergency communication highlighted their positive contributions by showing how 911 innovations helped people reconnect after such tragedies occurred.
It explores the wider impact of early telephone technology in society, showing how it transformed family dynamics and created jobs for women. You’ll see rotary dial phones with familiar click-whir operator connections as well as avocado green and mustard yellow phone booths which once lined our streets. Plus you can test your speed at dialing an old-fashioned payphone! All these pieces combine to give this museum depth and resonance which truly engages its visitors.
The Bell Collection
The museum is well-known for its interactive exhibits and fully operational switchboard room. Visitors are able to connect calls manually using this display, providing a glimpse into what long distance calling once required – “You don’t get a sense of its impact without seeing it,” states Susan Bell.
The collection also showcases artifacts and documents of telephone manufacturing from its inception at Brantford in 1878 through modern production at Bell-Northern Research and Development Laboratories today, including plant displays with poles cables splicing tools and antique line insulators.
Archives also house documents about Canada and international telecommunications industries, with particular attention paid to documents related to Bell’s pricing and interconnection practices, which remain controversial to this day. They’re supplemented by an abundance of historical family papers such as handwritten letters (of which most have been typed transcripts), diaries, photographs, interviews and magazines relating to family matters.
The Archives
This museum honors generations of workers who erected poles, buried cables, and managed technology that revolutionised communication systems worldwide. Their collection of antique telecommunications equipment and artifacts ranges from wooden box telephones and candlestick wall phones to modern videophones and two position Kellogg universal switchboards – giving a tribute to these brave individuals whose efforts changed the way people connect today.
The Archives represent one of the largest collections of historical documents related to Bell System history west of Chicago. Most noteworthy among these documents are Thomas Watson’s notebooks containing his entry from March 10, 1876 when he first transmitted intelligible sound over a telephone.
The Archives also maintain an extensive collection of old phone directories dating from their initial publication to modern times, technical manuals and books covering telecommunications as an area of study. This resource serves as an invaluable resource for historians, researchers and general interest readers alike.
