Discover the fascinating history of telephone communications at this unique museum founded by retired ED TEL employees in 1987 and housed in an old telephone exchange building in Old Strathcona. Attractions at The Telephone Historical Centre include fascinating pieces that you can touch and interact with directly.
Xeldon the Talking Robot
Xeldon was an interesting and interactive museum exhibit that detailed the development of telephone technology from its infancy through to modernity. Housed at Edmonton’s Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre, it opened as part of the Telephone Historical Centre back in 1987 by retired employees from ED TEL dedicated to preserving telephone history in Edmonton. Home to original handsets such as Gallows Frame Telephone and Thomas A Watson’s Thumper Phone alongside replica models, it provided people of all ages an educational environment on Canadian telecommunications history!
The Bell System
This museum introduces visitors to the history of communication technology, from Alexander Graham Bell’s Gallows Frame telephone to Thomas A. Watson’s Thumper phone. Additionally, this institution pays homage to generations of workers who put up poles, laid cables underground and designed devices that made communications possible.
Archive collection items at Telco History include vintage phone directories and technical manuals as well as oral histories from former Telco employees – invaluable resources for students, researchers or anyone with an interest in telecom history and technology.
The museum’s inaugural volumes were published just one year after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1877. One such work, entitled The Speaking Telephone, provides detailed diagrams and explanations of its operations for readers. Other collections within its archives include working panel-crossbar electromechanical central office switch equipment; operator switchboards; outdoor plant displays with poles wire and insulators as well as an extensive cataloged research library. Furthermore, educational programs are offered specifically dedicated to protecting antique telephones and telecom technology at this facility in Canada.
The Gallows Frame Telephone
The museum boasts an impressive collection of vintage phones and communications technology that provides an eye-opening glimpse into Edmonton’s telecom history. Research and archives held within its walls provide students, researchers, and anyone else interested in communications history a wealth of information on Alberta telecommunications history. The Telephone Historical Centre’s remarkable collection comprises vintage phone directories, technical manuals and oral histories from former telecom industry employees. Additionally, this collection boasts working electromechanical central office switch equipment such as panels and crossbars; operating switchboards; outdoor plant displays (poles wire and insulators); cataloged telecommunications reference materials; as well as unique volumes such as The Speaking Telephone by Alexander Graham Bell himself – published just one year after its invention and providing detailed diagrams describing its workings – making for a remarkable presentation.
The Thumper Phone
Alexander Graham Bell transformed communications when he created the telephone in 1876, and Edmonton’s Telephone Historical Centre houses an impressive collection of antique phones, telecom technology and research documents that document its progression into business tools and cultural catalysts. It features working panel and crossbar electromechanical central office switch equipment; operating switchboards; outdoor plant displays (poles wire and insulators); as well as cataloged reference materials available for students or researchers studying Edmonton’s telecom history.
This one-of-a-kind collection includes an impressive range of antique rotary dial “box” telephones commonly found in homes and Kellogg universal switchboards used by visitors to place calls using historical technology. Furthermore, there is also an archive holding vintage phone directories, technical manuals, oral histories with former ED TEL employees, vintage phone directories, technical manuals and vintage phone directories; making this unparalleled collection must see for anyone interested in communication history and its continued development.
