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.
