Communications

WANN Microphone

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.

Date: 1890s

Brookfield Beehive Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1897
maker
Brookfield Glass Company
ID Number
EM.181752
catalog number
181752
accession number
33261

Patent model for weighing scale

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a balancing ball on a weighing scale; the invention was granted patent number 534839.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a balancing ball on a weighing scale; the invention was granted patent number 534839.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
ca 1895
patent date
1895-02-26
maker
Heyer, Charles A.
ID Number
1997.0198.19
catalog number
1997.0198.19
accession number
1997.0198

Warrior Killing a Soldier

Unknown artist, about 1894“Cheyenne Picture. Warrior Killing a Soldier.”Ink and watercolorThis drawing shows the victory of a Cheyenne warrior over a U.S. Army soldier.
Description
Unknown artist, about 1894
“Cheyenne Picture. Warrior Killing a Soldier.”
Ink and watercolor
This drawing shows the victory of a Cheyenne warrior over a U.S. Army soldier. The artist depicts the warrior counting coup on his enemy by touching the fallen soldier with his riding whip (quirt). Counting coup - in this instance touching an adversary in battle - was considered an act of bravery that could gain war honors. This single event took place during a larger battle against many adversaries, as indicated by the large number of rifles at the left.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1875
date made
ca 1894
original artist
unknown
ID Number
GA.08111
accession number
1897.031963
catalog number
GA*08111
accession number
1897.31963

Picture postcard, "Monterey. Old Mission Chapel"

This postcard view of the Old Mission Chapel at Monterey was printed using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint" by the Detroit Photographic Company in about 1899.The Detroit Photographic Company was first listed in Detroit city directories in 1888 and was m
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of the Old Mission Chapel at Monterey was printed using a copyrighted photolithographic process called "Photostint" by the Detroit Photographic Company in about 1899.
The Detroit Photographic Company was first listed in Detroit city directories in 1888 and was managed by William A. Livingstone. Livingstone invited the famous landscape photographer William Henry Jackson to join the company as a partner in 1897. Jackson brought with him his own photographic images, which would be used by the company.
Mission San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo, or the Old Mission Chapel, was founded in 1770 by Fr. Junípero Serra, the Spanish Franciscan missionary associated with twenty-one missions in California. Mission San Carlos was the second of the missions founded between 1769 and 1823 for the conversion of American Indians of the Esselen and Ohlone, or Costanoan, tribes to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves as a parish church.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1899
graphic artist
Detroit Photographic Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.1998
catalog number
1986.639.1998
accession number
1986.0639

Cheyenne Pictures. Warrior Killing a Soldier

Unknown artist, about 1894“Cheyenne Pictures. Standing Elk’s Horse Killed in Fight with Troops.”Pencil, ink, and watercolorThe central focus of this image is a wounded horse, bleeding from head and rump, being fired on by U.S. troops at the right.
Description
Unknown artist, about 1894
“Cheyenne Pictures. Standing Elk’s Horse Killed in Fight with Troops.”
Pencil, ink, and watercolor
The central focus of this image is a wounded horse, bleeding from head and rump, being fired on by U.S. troops at the right. Standing Elk, with his name glyph above him, has dismounted and appears to be safe from the rifle shots. The suggestion of concern by the warrior indicates the high value placed on horses by Plains tribesmen.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1894
original artist
unknown
ID Number
GA.08112
catalog number
GA*08112
accession number
1897.031963

OK jobber, Kelsey

This platen jobber, with a clamshell mechanism, was made by W. A. Kelsey, about 1891.
Description (Brief)
This platen jobber, with a clamshell mechanism, was made by W. A. Kelsey, about 1891. Its chase measures 9 inches by 13 inches.
William Kelsey made his fame and fortune with small presses for amateurs and children, but for a few years he tried making platen jobbers too, and even a small flatbed cylinder press. His short-lived OK Jobber, introduced in 1887, sold for only $100. The press, criticized as being flimsy and lacking power, was not a great success. But like many lightweight clamshell jobbers of the time, it filled a need and did so inexpensively.
This model was presented in 1891, with a modified frame and a wraparound feed table. The small flywheel (25 inches in diameter) is tied directly to the treadle by a rod. Despite its light frame, the press is heavy in operation.
Purchased in 1985.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1891
date made
ca 1891
maker
Kelsey, William
Kelsey, William
Kelsey, William
ID Number
1985.0559.02
accession number
1985.0559
catalog number
1985.0559.02
1985.0559.02

Freir polar telegraph relay

Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash.
Description
Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, to the point where the incoming signal was too weak to directly operate a receiving sounder or register. A relay detected a weak signal and used a battery to strengthen the signal so that the receiver would operate.
Relays required adjustment to compensate for changing conditions on the line. Older designs used adjusting screws and springs to change the position of the coils and the sensitivity of the armature–a tricky task. Polarized or “polar” relays like this unit made by Charles Dubois & Son, used a special coil-mount to eliminate the springs and coil adjusters. The coils were mounted to one end of a permanent magnet and the armature connected to the other end, so the coils and the armature had opposite magnetic polarity. Without an incoming signal the armature, attracted equally by both coils, sat balanced between them. The coils were wound in such a way that an incoming signal reinforced the magnetic field of one coil and reduced the field in the other, attracting the armature to one side to make contact and activate the relay.
This design was modified by Samuel P. Freir of New Jersey who obtained US Patent 493620 for Western Union. Freir designed the relay for use on a quadruplex line where four signals moved simultaneously on a single wire. The simultaneous signals could cause a typical “neutral relay [to generate] a false signal.” Freir's design corrected the problem.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
Charles H. Dubois & Son
ID Number
EM.331395
accession number
294351
catalog number
331395
collector/donor number
100-022

Telegraph Key

Telegraph keys are electrical switches used to send coded messages that travel as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Due to special difficulties in sending pulses through long underwater cables, so-called double-current keys were used.
Description (Brief)
Telegraph keys are electrical switches used to send coded messages that travel as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Due to special difficulties in sending pulses through long underwater cables, so-called double-current keys were used. Instead of the short dots and long dashes of land-line telegraphs, submarine telegraphs sent positive pulses and negative pulses that made the receiver move right or left. The operator pressed one lever on the key to send a positive pulse and another to send a negative pulse. The code consisted of the sequence of left and right movements recorded on a paper tape.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
Foote, Pierson & Co.
ID Number
EM.329942
accession number
283729
catalog number
329942

Ferris's Daughter May

Stephen James Ferris etched an undated portrait of his daughter, May, in the costume of a bull fighter, and dedicated this impression to her. May Electa Ferris was born in 1871, eight years after her brother, Jean Leon Gerome Ferris.
Description
Stephen James Ferris etched an undated portrait of his daughter, May, in the costume of a bull fighter, and dedicated this impression to her. May Electa Ferris was born in 1871, eight years after her brother, Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. Like her father and brother, she was an artist. She learned to etch from her father and became known as an etcher and landscape painter, exhibiting in the 1880s and 1890s. Her paintings were reproduced as calendar artwork into the 1920s under her married name, May Ferris Smith.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1890
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14405.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14405.01

Milliken-type telegraph repeater

Telegraph repeaters amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash.
Description
Telegraph repeaters amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, limiting the distance a message could travel. Repeaters remedied that problem by detecting a weak signal and using a local power source to re-energize and re-transmit the signal down the line.
This Milliken-repeater was used on the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad in the 1880s or '90s. George F. Milliken, manager of the Boston office of Western Union, introduced a new type of automatic telegraph repeater in 1864 designed to remedy a defect in prior models. Sometimes a delay in energizing one electromagnet in a repeater resulted in a lever being held by another electromagnet too tightly for the springs to release. An operator had to send a dot at just the right time to activate the repeater. Milliken used an auxiliary magnet and added a mechanical linkage to solve the problem. Franklin Pope wrote in 1868, “One of the principal advantages in the construction of Milliken's repeater consists in the fact that any slight variation in the strength of the extra local circuit, from weakness of the battery or other causes, does not affect the adjustment of the relay magnets.... The adjustment and action of the two magnets are entirely independent of each other, .... The relay levers also move more freely, being unencumbered with extra armatures or other appliances.” Charles Davis and Frank Rae wrote almost ten years later that Milliken’s repeater, “is more simple in principle and much easier adjusted.” Western Union adopted the distinctive looking “Milliken repeater” as a standard piece of equipment and the term became generic.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
ID Number
EM.294351.013
accession number
294351
catalog number
294351.013

Bunnell "Weiny-Phillips" telegraph relay - repeater

Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash.
Description
Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, to the point where the incoming signal was too weak to directly operate a receiving sounder or register. A relay detected a weak signal and used a battery to strengthen the signal so that the receiver would operate.
A plate on this Bunnell relay associates the unit with "Weiny-Phillips" U.S. patent 479178. However, that 19 July 1892 patent was issued solely to Roderick H. Weiny with no mention of Phillips. The relay differs in appearance from the unit depicted on the patent so perhaps Phillips modified Weiny's design.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1893
maker
J. H. Bunnell & Co.
ID Number
EM.331671
accession number
294351
catalog number
331671
collector/donor number
12-05
patent number
479178

A Rustic Genji (Inaka Genji)

Japanese wood block print. Landscape subject with three kimono-clad figures under arching branch of tree. Right-hand print in a triptych with GA 03215 and GA 03216.
Description
Japanese wood block print. Landscape subject with three kimono-clad figures under arching branch of tree. Right-hand print in a triptych with GA 03215 and GA 03216. 23 separate impressions were required to complete the image from 13 printing surfaces on seven blocks, GA 03212.01-.07, of which this is the first progressive proof, the outline of the entire image printed from the key block.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Morikawa, Kokichiro
ID Number
GA.03213.01
catalog number
03213.01
accession number
22582

Patent model for printers' quoins

This patent model demonstrates an invention for slim quoins consisting of two metal plates with slanting faces that worked on each other; used when there was not enough space in the form for ordinary quoins. The invention was granted patent number 483185.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for slim quoins consisting of two metal plates with slanting faces that worked on each other; used when there was not enough space in the form for ordinary quoins. The invention was granted patent number 483185. Model incomplete.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1892
patent date
1892-09-27
patentee
Tinsley, William J.
ID Number
GA.89797.483185
patent number
483185
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.483185

The Sultana's Bath

A signed and dated pencil study with subject matter similar to the drawing GA*16628Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
A signed and dated pencil study with subject matter similar to the drawing GA*16628
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1898
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16627
catalog number
16627
accession number
119780

Preparing aluminum plates for surface printing

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a method of cleaning and surfacing aluminum plates to give them a better printing surface. The invention was granted patent number 590966.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a method of cleaning and surfacing aluminum plates to give them a better printing surface. The invention was granted patent number 590966.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1897
patent date
1897-10-05
patentee
Cornwall, George R.
ID Number
GA.89797.590966
accession number
089797
patent number
590966
catalog number
GA*89797.590966

Baltimore jobber

This platen jobber with clamshell mechanism was made by J. F. W. Dorman of Baltimore in about 1890; its chase (missing) measures 8 inches by 12 inches.J. F. W.
Description (Brief)
This platen jobber with clamshell mechanism was made by J. F. W. Dorman of Baltimore in about 1890; its chase (missing) measures 8 inches by 12 inches.
J. F. W. Dorman started out as a stencil cutter in 1866, then became a supplier of rubber stamps and stationery material, and carried his business up into boys’ presses in the 1870s, and then briefly into full-size jobbing presses. His shop was lost in the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. After that disaster the company returned to its original line of office supply.
The Baltimore Jobber—the largest of Dorman’s “Baltimore” name series—has a simple clamshell mechanism, and an unusually massive counterweight to the platen, swinging between the sides of the frame.
Donated by Mr. and Mrs. Otto Donner, 1970.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1890
date made
ca 1890
maker
J.F.W. Dorman
ID Number
GA.23260
catalog number
GA*23260
accession number
291752

Boats on the Schuykill River

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1894
ID Number
GA.22188
catalog number
22188
accession number
272554

Hapisgoh (The Summit)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1852-1853
1890
ID Number
GA.285049.02.01
accession number
285049
catalog number
285049.02.01

Portrait of Jean-Léon Gérôme

Stephen Ferris etched a dapper J. L. Gérôme (1824–1904) in 1899, near the end of Gérôme’s very successful career as painter and sculptor. Ferris had admired the French artist’s work for many years, at least since 1863 when he named his son after him.
Description
Stephen Ferris etched a dapper J. L. Gérôme (1824–1904) in 1899, near the end of Gérôme’s very successful career as painter and sculptor. Ferris had admired the French artist’s work for many years, at least since 1863 when he named his son after him. Although Ferris never actually met Gérôme, the two artists had corresponded. For this print Ferris used a photograph he had received from Gérôme. He then sent Gérôme trial proofs for comments and requested a signature to include in the final impressions, which appears here at lower left.
Gérôme congratulated Ferris on the portrait as “work done with great care and great talent—the effect is very good and very firm. If I had any criticism to make, I would reserve it for the background, which is a little too even, and for the clothing, which has a little softness in the execution.” Gérôme also suggested that the highlight on the order which appears on his left breast and is not particularly noticeable in the photograph, be less bright. The order remains brightly lit, possibly Ferris’s tribute to Gérôme.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
date made
1899
graphic artist
Ferris, Stephen James
ID Number
GA.14396.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14396.01

Stern Winter

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1894
original artist
Sloan, John
ID Number
GA.22281
catalog number
22281
accession number
272554

Telegraph Key

Telegraph keys are electrical on-off switches used to send messages in Morse code. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire.
Description (Brief)
Telegraph keys are electrical on-off switches used to send messages in Morse code. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The operator pushes the key’s lever down briefly to make a short signal, a dot, or holds the lever down for a moment to make a slightly longer signal, a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers. This has been identified as an early form of the "Triumph Key" made by Bunnell in the late 1880s and intended to address a problem of uneven contact wear in existing keys.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
maker
J. H. Bunnell & Co.
ID Number
EM.222137
catalog number
222137
accession number
41950

Telegraph Key

Telegraph keys are electrical switches used to send coded messages that travel as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Due to special difficulties in sending pulses through long underwater cables, so-called double-current keys were used.
Description (Brief)
Telegraph keys are electrical switches used to send coded messages that travel as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Due to special difficulties in sending pulses through long underwater cables, so-called double-current keys were used. Instead of the short dots and long dashes of land-line telegraphs, submarine telegraphs sent positive pulses and negative pulses that made the receiver move right or left. The operator pressed one lever on the key to send a positive pulse and another to send a negative pulse. The code consisted of the sequence of left and right movements recorded on a paper tape. This particular key was used in testing insulation at Tufts University in the years around 1910.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
ca 1903
maker
Queen and Company
ID Number
EM.328049
catalog number
328049
accession number
270107
collector/donor number
13

Patent model for printers' furniture

This patent model demonstrates an invention for hollow metal furniture (printers' spacing material), which was granted patent number 508263.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for hollow metal furniture (printers' spacing material), which was granted patent number 508263.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1893
patent date
1893-11-07
maker
Wolfe, Jacob C.
ID Number
1996.0062.19
catalog number
1996.0062.19
accession number
1996.0062
patent number
508263

Freir polarized telegraph relay

Telegraph relays amplify an electrical signal in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages travel as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver.
Description
Telegraph relays amplify an electrical signal in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages travel as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. The pulses fade in strength as they travel through the wire, limiting the distance a message can be sent. Relays remedy that problem by detecting a weak signal and automatically re-transmitting that signal down the line using a local power source.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1890
Maker
Western Union Corporation
ID Number
EM.331938
collector/donor number
100-880
accession number
294351
catalog number
331938

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