Today’s smartphones make communication technology increasingly convenient, yet we tend to forget its history. At this museum dedicated to telecomm, visitors will get a fascinating glimpse into its past.

The Telephone Historical Centre, founded by retired ED TEL employees, is one of the largest institutions of its kind in North America. Among its impressive collection are working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches; manual private automatic branch exchanges demonstrating stepping-switch principles; candlestick wall phones; antique line insulators and much more.

The museum is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm.

The museum features a wide array of artifacts, such as vintage telephone directories and technical manuals, as well as artwork framed for display and scrapbooks. Visitors can use an app to enhance their self-guided tour experience and learn more about telecommunications history.

Guided tours are offered, led by knowledgeable docents who provide engaging commentary and stories about the collection. Tours last at least an hour and offer a great opportunity to experience more fully what this museum offers.

The staff of the museum is committed to educating visitors of all ages about telecommunications history. The museum provides several educational programs, such as their Traveling Trunks Program which brings telephone artifacts and resources directly into schools and community groups; workshops and events encouraging hands-on exploration with historical telephones; as well as its Learning Resource Room that is staffed by volunteer telephone operators/workers who possess firsthand knowledge of its contents.

The museum is closed on Mondays.

This museum boasts one of North America’s largest collections of antique phones and switchboards as well as a fully functioning panel and crossbar electromechanical central office switching system and cataloged telephone reference library – providing an engaging experience for visitors of all ages. Discover how Alexander Graham Bell revolutionized human communications more easily and rapidly! His simple invention changed our world forever!

Docents (current and retired telephone company employees who volunteer their time) at the museum provide knowledgeable tours through its exhibits, showing visitors how the phone has evolved over time from solid wood wall-mounted and operator-directed rotary phones to today’s advanced cellular phones. You may even come across novelty phones, from flip phones to princess phones!

The museum collection has been developed largely with contributions from former telephone workers. This includes both Violette and Bartlett families’ collection of memorabilia as well as items donated from general public donors.

The museum is open on Sundays from 10 am to 4 pm.

The museum specializes in antique telephones and telecommunications equipment from its collection, as well as historical line insulators from different time periods. Additionally, there is a working panel-crossbar electromechanical central office switch as well as an annotated cataloged telecommunications reference library on display here. Open to both individual visitors and group tours alike!

Exhibits showcase an expansive collection of artifacts spanning from early rotary-dial phones to today’s smartphone technology, representing over 130 years. This exhibit is the largest collection of its kind in North America and early collection items include crank wall phones and decorator phones as well as two 20th century phone booths.

The Museum began as the personal collections of several individuals who worked at ED TEL over time, when their items began being thrown away due to building relocation, department closure, or employee turnover. When faced with these possibilities they decided to form the Museum as a non-profit organization run entirely by volunteers from current or retired ED TEL employees. It opened its doors officially on July 11, 1990.

The museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

The museum boasts an expansive collection of telephone equipment spanning more than one century. It traces the progress of communications technology from wooden wall-mount phones and hand cranks to hand cranks, rotary dials and switchboards; as well as design trends like flip phones or novelty princess phones over time. Both children and adults will find this exhibition enlightening! The museum provides an ideal place for exploring how communications have developed since.

These interactive exhibits give guests an engaging way to learn about the history and development of telecom. Plus, visitors get to hear first-hand accounts about its innovations from people involved themselves!

At Christmas time, the museum extends its normal opening hours by staying open late Friday and Saturday evenings as well as Thursday evening on December 28. This allows visitors to take full advantage of its exhibition galleries, restaurants, shops and guided tours provided by trained volunteer docents (current or former employees of Southwestern Bell). Making it the ideal spot for families or groups of friends.

Modern phone calling may seem effortless: with just the touch of a button, we can reach our mom in Philadelphia or BFF in New York. But it wasn’t always this convenient – and this museum gives visitors an opportunity to experience its tangible history through these telephones.

At this museum, its collections range from working magneto phones and manual switchboards to the first long distance line statistics book – providing children with a great opportunity to discover how the telephone has evolved over time.

Hello Montreal!

Montreal once became a mecca for parched Americans looking for relief during Prohibition. Between 1919 and 1933, Montreal was the East Coast city with the highest alcohol sales during Prohibition – earning its unique standing its own popular song at this time: “Goodbye Broadway, Hello Montreal”.

Today, this love affair continues at its fullest with the world’s largest Jazz Festival and clubs that host concerts seven nights a week. This exhibition draws from Pointe-a-Calliere’s extensive historical collections to examine different aspects of telephony’s development through history as well as what innovations may come tomorrow.

The History of Telephony

Pointe-a-Calliere Museum provides visitors with a fascinating glimpse into telecommunications history through one of North America’s largest collections of its kind. Through photos, documents and musical excerpts culled from Bell’s private archives, visitors gain an understanding of its impactful history, technology and sociology on Montrealers as well as worldwide.

This museum showcases an extensive collection of telephones and related objects dating from their introduction in 1876 until modern smartphones, working panel and crossbar electromechanical central office type switching systems as well as novelty phones such as wooden three-box wall phones or candlestick models.

From Alexander Graham Bell’s attic workshop of the late 1800s to the first coast-to-coast long distance call in 1915, you can witness first-hand how telephone technology came to be here. From metal wiring and heavy hardware to the sleek microcircuitry used today for high-speed transmissions – everything from metal wires and heavy hardware to sleek microcircuitry is on display here at this museum which also houses an extensive library dedicated to all things telephone related!

The Future of Telephony

Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876 was an innovative breakthrough that allowed people to communicate across long distances more easily, opening up communication with family and friends from faraway lands. Over time, telephone use skyrocketed exponentially – prompting operators to work hard connecting calls from people all around the globe while answering queries about them all day long.

Today’s telecommunication technology continues to revolutionize our communication methods. From landlines and VoIP systems to virtual private networks (VPN), this field of study has never been more advanced. To understand its evolution it’s crucial to learn its history.

Pointe-a-Calliere in partnership with Bell has organized this exhibition, drawing upon their extensive archive and heritage material, to offer an entertaining portrait of how telephones have changed our relationships over the years and also demonstrate their development from copper wire connections to faster fibre optic connections. Hotel InterContinental Montreal and La Presse contributed generously towards making this exhibit possible.

The Virtual Museum of Telecommunications

In addition to an impressive array of telephones spanning wall-mounted hand crank magneto phones to modern models, the museum provides working panel and crossbar electromechanical central office type switching systems; military telephones from World War I through Gulf War; novelty wooden box phones; candlestick phones; as well as historical documents and one-of-a-kind publications on these subjects.

Established by retired employees of Edmonton D TEL on December 3rd 1987, the Telephone Historical Centre can be found at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre in Edmonton. Its collections span from early telephone exchanges to automated switching networks of today.

This virtual museum provides a novel approach to communication technology history and serves as an exemplary demonstration of how museums can utilize digital media to share their artifacts worldwide. The Connected Earth portal brings together digital objects, historical context, and rich content from various museums located both domestically and overseas.