Communications - Overview
Tools of communication have transformed American society time and again over the past two centuries. The Museum has preserved many instruments of these changes, from printing presses to personal digital assistants.
The collections include hundreds of artifacts from the printing trade and related fields, including papermaking equipment, wood and metal type collections, bookbinding tools, and typesetting machines. Benjamin Franklin is said to have used one of the printing presses in the collection in 1726.
More than 7,000 objects chart the evolution of electronic communications, including the original telegraph of Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell's early telephones. Radios, televisions, tape recorders, and the tools of the computer age are part of the collections, along with wireless phones and a satellite tracking system.
"Communications - Overview" showing 2 items.
NBC Microphone
- Description (Brief)
- The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was the first major broadcast network in the United States. During the golden age of radio, NBC’s roster of stars included comedians Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, George Burns and Gracie Allen, singer Al Jolson, and conductor Arturo Toscanini. This microphone dates from the 1930s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1931
- maker
- RCA Corporation
- ID Number
- EM*311450
- catalog number
- 311450
- accession number
- 148157
- model number
- 618-A
- serial number
- 931
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
RCA TRK-12 Television
- Description (Brief)
- From 1939 to 1941, about 7,000 television sets were sold. This new technology was out of reach for most Americans as sets ranged from $200 to $600. Television broadcasts were limited to a few large cities such as New York and Los Angeles; they became available across the country only after World War II. This early set was designed for limited commercial service in the New York area.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1939
- maker
- RCA Corporation
- ID Number
- EM*326100
- catalog number
- 326100
- accession number
- 258911
- model number
- TRK-12
- serial number
- 32
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center