Museum was founded by former employees of ED TEL as a repository of knowledge about telecom history. Their collection features working panel and crossbar electromechanical central office switches, operator switchboards, as well as outdoor plant displays with poles wire and insulators.
Roseville Museum boasts an expansive collection of antique phones and communication technology from Alexander Graham Bell’s Gallows Frame Telephone to Thomas Watson’s Thumper Phone; vintage directories and technical manuals can also be found within their archive, while they host oral histories with former telecom industry workers.
The History of the Telephone
The telephone has had a profound impact on how people communicate. It has revolutionized our everyday lives in so many ways – from increasing business efficiency and shortening response times for questions to making long distance calls possible.
At first, when the telephone was first invented, its invention was met with both suspicion and fear. Hearing voices over an invisible wire seemed miraculous but many worried that its signals could harm or even kill them. People suffering from rheumatism even went directly to telephone stations in hopes that electric impulses passing through could cure their condition.
By the late 19th century, telephony had become an indispensable business tool. Not long after inventing the telephone, it was clear that an effective long-distance line would be required in order for it to become useful; Alexander Graham Bell created AT&T shortly thereafter and rapidly began expanding his phone network; during this time the first workable exchange was developed which allowed calls between subscribers to be switched rather than directly connected as was done earlier and enabled one battery powering all telephones connected to it.
The History of Edmonton
Edmonton’s valley location and abundant natural resources have attracted first peoples for millennia. An archaeological site discovered near the Alberta Legislature Building in 1976 yielded evidence dating to Middle Prehistoric period (3000-500 BCE), suggesting this gathering place served bands of semi-nomadic Indigenous hunters and gatherers.
Since 1830 and subsequent treaties with the Hudson’s Bay Company, land was occupied by various Indigenous bands that were skilled traders and resource managers utilizing fertile prairies for grain milling, flour milling, tanning, meat-packing as well as wildlife conservation and medicinal herb harvesting.
Once the railway reached Leduc in the 1890s and became provincial capital in 1905, its population experienced rapid growth. Growth continued up and down until 1947’s discovery of oil in nearby Leduc led to an economic surge that brought prosperity for years after.
Today, Edmonton continues to prosper as a regional wholesale trade centre and service hub for western Canada’s manufacturing and industrial sectors as well as an important player in Canada’s petroleum industry. Its downtown core remains reflective of its history with modern buildings mixed in among historical ones; and many neighborhoods within Edmonton boast cultural hotspots offering food, music, and art from an array of cultural backgrounds.
The History of Bell Canada
Archives hold an abundance of material about Bell Canada, one of the world’s premier providers of telecom services founded in 1880 and still in operation today.
Charles Fleetford Sise arrived in Montreal from the United States with instructions from the owners of Alexander Graham Bell’s patents to establish a Canadian telephone company. A former sea captain, he took on his task with great dedication as president of The Bell Telephone Company of Canada Ltd.
As demand for telephone services increased in the early 1900s, some independent telephone companies resisted Bell’s attempts to integrate their systems. Other companies were more accommodating, and they often collaborated with Bell in sharing long-distance connections.
Bell continued its rapid expansion during the second decade of the 20th century. Lines stretched from Nova Scotia all the way to Alberta’s foothills of Rocky Mountains; but most attention was focused on major cities in Ontario and Quebec.
Bell began offering more advanced products during the 1950s, such as receiver-transmitter sets with combination receiver and transmitter sets. Furthermore, the company established an innovative microwave radio relay link between Toronto and Montreal enabling audiences in both cities to watch simultaneous broadcasts simultaneously – at that time Bell had established one of the world’s largest networks of high-speed communications.
