The Telephone Historical Centre Collections boast an impressive array of telecommunications technology. Visitors of all ages will find something fun and educational at this captivating center.

There’s plenty to see at the Museum, from wooden wall-mounted phones and rotary dials to manual switchboards – each offering an insight into the vital role telecommunications played and plays today in our lives.

Collections

The museum features room after room of phones spanning from wooden wall-mounted versions to modern rotary dial models, from early wooden wall phones to more recently produced rotary dial models. Also on display are operator switchboards and equipment along with hundreds of phone-related items and tools.

Gary Hocker of Gary Hocker Architecture designed an exclusive building to house our collection. After many hours spent carefully placing items and documents, many hours went into assembling it all for our visitors to enjoy.

This collection is organized to give visitors an engaging journey through communications technology history and demonstrate its development over time. No matter whether you are interested in history, technology or former phone technicians – this museum offers something for everyone. Entertaining without being silly; insightful without becoming boring; surprising without becoming convoluted – all hallmarks of a great institution! This small local institution managed to achieve all three feats with thanks to all involved individuals and organizations collaborating towards its success.

Exhibits

The museum features exhibits that illustrate the development of communications from smoke signals to text messaging, including operator switchboards, a replica of Alexander Graham Bell’s workshop model, complete telephone poles with climbing equipment and hundreds of pieces of telephone-related memorabilia.

The exhibits also highlight all those involved with making telecommunications possible, from those erecting poles and laying cables, to taking calls at exchanges or users’ homes – each person played an essential part in revolutionizing how we communicate today.

One of the highlights of Edmonton Museum’s collection are manual system telephones first introduced here in 1885. This method involved sending signal patterns via switchboard operators at telephone exchanges to rotary dial phones connected by wire. Only two other museums worldwide can currently display full-size manual system telephones.

Programs

The Museum features antique telephones and related telecommunications technology dating from Alexander Graham Bell’s original patent in 1876 to automated switches that replaced manual system exchanges in 1985. Furthermore, visitors can interact with an interactive Central Office switching system located here.

Cord pairs allow users to connect to local and long distance phone lines – similar to the old system – using special codes or direct dialed numbers, similar to direct-dialing other cities. A Kellogg Universal Switchboard displays how operators connected telephone circuits via toggle switches.

The Museum offers a unique opportunity to foster enthusiasm for engineering through telephones and their predecessors. Our ‘Telephone Workshops’ foster enthusiasm through hands-on activities that combine electric theory, math and the power of a screw driver – unveiling a hidden world of invisible electricity and telecom technology.

Contact Us

Since 1994, this museum founded by pioneer volunteers has collected artifacts that span US telephony history. Funded through membership dues, research fees, and grants.

This museum, situated within Jefferson Barracks Park and belonging to the Independent Telephone Pioneers Association, boasts interactive exhibits that demonstrate how telephones were once used in past decades. Furthermore, visitors will see rare pieces from all aspects of Bell System as part of its permanent collections.

Edmonton’s Telephone Museum is the largest of its kind in North America, as well as being Canada’s only telephone museum of its kind. Focused on providing historical details about Edmonton telephone usage, educational programs for children and students are provided here as well. Managed by the Foundation – comprised of retired ED TEL employees – who recently decided to dissolve, citing relevancy issues as well as financial considerations as reasons behind their vote to dissolve.

In addition to an impressive collection of antique phones, the museum also showcases an antique back-end switchboard and linemen’s tools as well as an antique line insulators display.

The museum is run by knowledgeable volunteers – current or retired telephone company employees – who offer guided tours through its displays and equipment. Their collection includes crank wall phones and decorator phones which still ring and dial!

Museum of Independent Telephony

Visitors of this museum will gain insight into how telecommunications technology has advanced over time. Their collection includes antique phones and insulators as well as linemen’s tools and a magneto switchboard – perfect for families and students interested in exploring communication innovation history.

At Dickinson County Heritage Center’s barn location lies the Museum of Independent Telephony. Here is where small, independent telephone companies that emerged post-Alexander Graham Bell patent expiration can be honored through guided and self-guided tours to experience its rich history of telecom.

The museum also displays an assortment of phones ranging from rotary models, candlestick phones and wooden wall mount phones, including wooden wall mount ones. There is also a phone booth featuring princess phones and rotating display of insulators in its collection. In addition, events for public participation are hosted regularly at this facility as it strives to demonstrate both social and technical significance of telegraph networks since 1876 by using working equipment that provides tangible proof that technology evolves over time.

ITPA Museum

Edmonton, Canada’s ITPA Museum is one of North America’s premier telephone museums. Established by retired ED TEL employees, it has quickly become one of Edmonton’s must-visit historical spots and educational tours for school field trips and sightseeing tours alike. Plus, with activities like its iconic robot Xeldon on offer here at this museum.

The museum exhibits artifacts and equipment from the early days of telecommunications, including a full-sized magneto switchboard, step-by-step automatic branch exchange systems, antique wooden wall phones and an assortment of novelty telephones.

The museum is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and free for entry, though donations are accepted to support its work. Visitors are also encouraged to donate any spare change at its souvenir shop; even small amounts go a long way toward helping support this museum that relies on donations and sponsorships for funding.

Connections Museum Seattle

The museum features one of the nation’s premier collections of antique telephone equipment, from early switchboards to novelty phones. Professional curators lead visitors through these engaging exhibits designed to engage people from diverse ages and technical backgrounds.

Inside an unassuming building in Seattle stands two telecommunication bookends: On one side are Seattle’s major network providers; and on the other is a museum that brings back memories of rotary telephones and operator-managed party lines. Opened in 1996, The Connections Museum Seattle contains many artifacts from days gone by such as five large switching systems used to deliver news from wire services such as Reuters.

An operational Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switching system was found in storage since 1984 when Connections volunteers salvaged it from scrapyard. One such volunteer, Sarah Autumn, spent five years painstakingly reassembling it piecemeal.

New Hampshire Telephone Museum

The New Hampshire Telephone Museum was created from the personal collections of several people working in telecommunications. Their passion for history and telecom technology brought thousands of objects that trace its development through time; additionally, there’s even an impressive rotary phone collection! Located in Warner, New Hampshire.

The museum features an expansive selection of antique switchboards, candlestick telephones and wooden wall-mount phones as well as novelty phones such as princess and flip phones. Furthermore, educational tours and lectures for students of all ages are offered.

This museum is dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of telecommunications for future generations, from Alexander Graham Bell’s harmonic telegraph to cell phones. Telephone technology has had an incredible effect on how we communicate; visiting The New Hampshire Telephone Museum will allow visitors to better comprehend how this incredible invention has changed the world.

Museum visitors and past and present Telephone Pioneer members alike find comfort here, amongst old rotary phones and full-scale switchboards.

Archival materials at Edmonton include vintage telephone directories dating back to 1895; technical manuals and books covering telecom technology and history.

Included among the memorabilia is an array of novelty phones featuring pickles, Garfield and Volkswagen buses.

Collections

Collections at the museum feature antique and modern telephone equipment, research documents, and archives that shed light on its development. These exhibits span from Alexander Graham Bell’s hand cranked wooden prototypes to automated switchboards of today; all showing how far telephone technology has come since its humble roots as an early telegraph system to what you may now consider an ordinary cell phone in your pocket.

The Museum houses an expansive library and technical journal collection on telecom technology, postcards related to telecom technology and tape recordings from Thomas Watson discussing his work with Alexander Graham Bell in the late 1800s all the way through President Nixon speaking with astronauts on the moon in 1969.

The Museum is an extraordinary space created by retired and active telecom employees who lamented the loss of many artifacts due to building demolition or department closure. Now home to hundreds of items such as operator switchboards, wooden wall phones, decorator phones and red kiosks once found throughout Britain – it represents their struggle against further loss and grief.

Exhibits

Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876 revolutionised communication, enabling long distance talking and opening new channels of interaction. Telephone museums today preserve artifacts of early telephone technology ranging from wooden wall-mounted phones that required hand cranking all the way to today’s pocket-sized touch screen cellular phones; commemorating those responsible for making such innovation available to millions around the globe.

THG boasts an extensive archive of vintage Edmonton telephone directories dating back to the 1800s as well as technical manuals and publications related to telephone technology. Furthermore, its collections also include working central office switches such as Panel and Crossbar electromechanical switches – which bring these technologies alive through hands on exhibits and programs which focus on telecom themes and technologies – helping foster enthusiasm among students entering engineering programs, creating generations of workers today!

Programs

No matter your interest – history, collecting or simply communications technology – our collections and programs will satisfy. From the dawn of telephone in late 1800s up until today’s technologies such as smartphones, our displays showcase them all – including real telephones as well as related equipment.

Discover how Alexander Graham Bell revolutionized our way of communicating in 1876 when he created and patented his revolutionary invention – our archives contain vintage Edmonton phone directories, technical manuals and books on telecomm as well as oral histories from former telecom employees.

The Telephone Historical Centre was created by a group of retired ED TEL employees and opened on December 3rd 1987 in an old exchange building located in Old Strathcona. Later it relocated to its permanent site at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre in central Edmonton where it continued offering engaging tours for both groups and individuals alike. Unfortunately, its foundation eventually disbanded due to relevancy, financial constraints, and structural concerns in April 2019.

Events

The Museum is an interactive history of the telephone. Visitors can see and touch actual handsets that helped lay the groundwork for computers, cell phones and other forms of telecommunication technologies. Group tours as well as individual visits provide visitors with an unforgettable museum experience.

Its collections include wooden wall-mounted magneto and rotary dial telephones, working central office step switches and operator switchboards, outside plant displays of poles, cables, splicing equipment and tools as well as an extensive cataloged telecommunications reference library.

The Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum is an engaging destination suitable for people of all ages and interests, from young children to adults alike. Its hands-on learning centers encourage the kind of curiosity that powered America’s incredible phone history as well as today’s inventors and innovators. Furthermore, its “Telephone Workshops” provide Boy Scouts an easy way to fulfill engineering merit badge requirements through activities using electricity theory, mathematics and screw drivers demonstrating principles of electrical engineering.

One of the largest telephone museums in North America, this museum showcases a comprehensive history of telecom technology dating back to Alexander Graham Bell’s attic workshop in 1876. You’ll find everything from crank wall phones and rotary dialers up through sleek cell phones – something no other museum in North America offers.

Full operational pieces illuminate the social and technical significance of communications advances, including working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches, step-by-step private automatic branch exchange displays, as well as outside plant displays featuring poles, cables and splicing tools.

History

Since 1990, Telecommunications History Group (THG) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded by both active and retired telecom employees to collect and preserve historic materials that may otherwise be lost through building demolition or use changes. Our founders saw how such items were being left behind when buildings became outdated or were no longer needed, leading them to create this organization to preserve them for posterity.

The museum houses one of the largest collections of telephones in North America. Ranging from solid wood wall phones with rotary dials and working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches to antique phones, switchboards, outdoor plant displays including poles and cables as well as a cataloged telecommunications reference library, it offers visitors an exciting variety of equipment on display.

Since opening on December 3rd 1987 in an old Telephone Exchange building in Old Strathcona, the museum has relocated to Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre for improved accessibility. Experienced docents both current and retired telecommunications employees provide tours through all exhibits of the museum for both groups or individual visits.

Exhibits

Today, making telephone calls seems almost like magic: simply pick up your cell phone and press a button – suddenly you are speaking with mom in Philadelphia or a friend in New York! However, that wasn’t always the case.

The museum commemorates over a century of telecom history and boasts one of the largest collections of communications equipment in North America. A knowledgeable docent will lead each tour.

Visitors learn about the history and evolution of telecom technology from solid wood wall mounted candlestick phones to sleek mobile phones, with displays featuring working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office step switches; display cases filled with antique wooden box phones; candlestick telephones and novelty phones as well as outside plant displays with poles, cables, splicing tools and equipment – as well as an extensive telecommunications reference library – making for an interactive visit!

This unique museum could easily have fallen victim to outdated technology or become bogged down with details about hyperlocal history; yet, it strikes just the right balance – providing visitors with a fun family outing, educational school field trip experience or simply another stop along any sightseeing tour of the area.

Admission

Telephone Historical Centre is an incredible museum dedicated to our most essential communications device – phones. Visitors will gain an amazing look into their history from Alexander Graham Bell’s Gallows Frame phone through to St Louis’ first commercial telephone installed in 1878, plus operator switchboards, military telephones from World War I through Gulf War, classic red K-6 telephone boxes and much more!

The museum provides an enjoyable self-guided experience, and is open to the public. Situated in Water Street neighbourhood, with several parking options nearby (street and garage parking available); also there are public lots and garages within a six minute walk offering parking validation to members. Established by retired ED TEL employees and opened to visitors in 1987. Now located within Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre of Edmonton.

Parking

Established in 1987, Telephone Historical Centre preserves Edmonton’s telecom history by collecting, organizing, documenting and exhibiting. It features working Panel and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches; antique phones; switchboards; outdoor plant displays with poles and cables spliced together as well as an organized library on telecom history; knowledgeable docents from ED TEL and other phone companies serve as guides through exhibits; various parking options are nearby including free street parking or metered spaces within six minutes walk from the museum; there’s even an enclosed public lot that’s only six minutes walk away – everything you could ever need for your telecom history research needs!

This museum showcases working Step-by-Step and Crossbar electromechanical central office switches as well as antique wooden box phones and candlestick wall phones, one of the largest telecommunications reference libraries in North America and outdoor displays of poles, wire and splicing equipment.

Established in 1990 by active and retired telephone employees who feared that historic items were at risk due to building demolition or departments deeming them redundant, the Telecommunications History Group seeks to preserve such pieces of telecom history for future generations.

Hours

The Telephone Historical Centre is a museum dedicated to collecting, organizing, documenting, exhibiting and storing material related to Edmonton’s telecommunications history. Established in 1987 and relocated in 2004, its current home at Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre. Operating as a non-profit organization accredited by Museums Alberta.

Roseville Museum boasts one of the world’s largest collections of telephone equipment and memorabilia. Exhibits document over one century of development and innovation within Roseville itself as well as working crank phones and manual switchboards in its exhibits.

Docents from current and retired employees of Southwestern Bell, SBC, AT&T, and other phone companies guide visitors through the exhibits at this museum, answering any questions and providing explanations about how the equipment works. Their hands-on approach makes the museum truly special for families and school groups; children often enjoy ringing one of the vintage phones themselves!

Admission

The Telephone Historical Centre was established on December 3, 1987 to preserve Edmonton’s telecommunications history through collecting, organizing, documenting, exhibiting and documenting materials related to it. After opening in Old Strathcona neighbourhood initially for improved accessibility reasons, by 2004 they relocated to Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre location to improve accessibility even further.

Museum of Telecom operates as a non-profit charitable organization accredited by Museums Alberta, providing hands-on exhibits that focus on communications principles as well as multi-media historical Telecommunication Theatre Show experiences for visitors.

The Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum is an interactive history museum with self-guided access. Displays include a switchboard, crank wall phones and decorator phones; located in an historic 1896 building it houses a vast collection of telephone equipment and memorabilia from 1896 onward. Operated by Telecommunications History Group Inc a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization comprised of active and retired employees founded in 1990 who were concerned about losing such items as buildings were torn down or departments no longer needed them

Exhibits

The Telephone Historical Centre in Edmonton, Alberta collects, organizes, and displays telecommunications history. The museum showcases antique phones and equipment dating from Alexander Graham Bell’s original invention until today’s iPhones. Group and individual tours are offered at all times by knowledgeable docents – either current or retired telecom employees – who provide additional insight into the artifacts on display.

From solid wood wall phones with rotary dials to an electromechanical central office switch, the museum provides a fascinating look into telecommunications history. Other features include recreating a small town manual exchange, display cases filled with telephone-related tools and catalogued reference materials for reference materials in the field.

Tom Baker, a museum board member and longtime telephone company employee who recently retired, noted how people thought phones were miraculous when first introduced in 1876. Most modern users don’t realize when telephone use began!

Events

At a time of rapid technological development, this museum chronicles over one century of communications history – boasting one of the largest collections in North America.

Visits to museums are great family outings, school field trips, and group sightseeing tours! Volunteer docents can offer hands-on experiences for visitors of all ages at this educational experience.

At a time when cell phones have become almost ubiquitous, the museum provides visitors an opportunity to interact with old telephones by touching and handling old telephones. Also visit to enter working panel and crossbar electromechanical central office switches or see outdoor plant displays such as poles, cables, splicing equipment and tools!

The museum can be found at the Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre in Edmonton; please take 108 Ave east to reach it and park in their parking lot.