Communications
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 925 items.
Page 1 of 93
Newspaper clipping, McDonald's Menu
- Description
- The original McDonald brothers' restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1948. It served hamburgers, fries, and beverages, still the mainstays of McDonald's Restaurant menus.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1965
- maker
- McDonald's Corporation
- ID Number
- 2013.3090.01
- accession number
- 2013.3090
- catalog number
- 2013.3090.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Vibroplex Telegraph Key
- Description (Brief)
- Semi-automatic keys like this "Vibroplex" automatically produced rapid morse code dots by using a weighted pendulum to quickly make and break contact in the electrical circuit. The operator would make the dashes manually but could send much faster than with an ordinary key. This key was used by a Western Union operator and came to the company's museum with its original carrying case.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1919
- maker
- Vibroplex Company, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1979.1016.01
- accession number
- 1979.1016
- catalog number
- 1979.1016.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Telephone Answering Machine
- Description (Brief)
- This Crown model CTA-4000 answering machine from the late 1960s used a non-standard cassette for recording messages. The telephone sat on top of the unit and was connected via a pickup and telephone cradle plug. A small microphone is mounted in a slot on the right side. The duration of message was 60 seconds. An advertisement from 1968 lists the retail price as $98.50 while one year it sold for $49.95.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1968
- maker
- Crown Radio Corporation
- ID Number
- 1982.0264.01
- accession number
- 1982.0264
- catalog number
- 1982.0264.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Reel-to-Reel Wire Recorder
- Description (Brief)
- In 1945 William Lear purchased a license from the Armour Research Foundation and made wire recorders like this “Dynaport” unit. The Dynaport combined a wire recorder with a disk record player. The user could play records and make a wire recording of the contents. Users could also connect the Dynaport with a radio and record programs off the air.
- The Dynaport did not sell well and Lear turned his attention to other products like small business jets. Years later he redesigned a tape cartridge system and became a driving force in the introduction of 8-track tape players for automobiles.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1948
- date ordered, given, or borrowed
- 1981-01-15
- maker
- Lear, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1984.0901.01
- accession number
- 1984.0901
- maker number
- 175
- catalog number
- 1984.0901.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
American Vibroplex Telegraph Key
- Description (Brief)
- Semi-automatic keys like this "American Vibroplex" automatically produced rapid morse code dots by using a weighted pendulum to quickly make and break contact in the electrical circuit. The operator would make the dashes manually but could send much faster than with an ordinary key.
- King & Company produced this key under license from a company that worked with Horace Martin, inventor of "Vibroplex" semi-automatic key.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- King & Company
- ID Number
- 1985.0885.01
- accession number
- 1985.0885
- catalog number
- 1985.0885.01
- serial number
- 223
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Semi-automatic Telegraph Key
- Description (Brief)
- Semi-automatic keys like this one automatically produced rapid morse code dots by using a weighted pendulum to quickly make and break contact in the electrical circuit. The operator would make the dashes manually but could send much faster than with an ordinary key.
- Electric Specialty Manufacturing Company produced this key under license from a company that worked with Horace Martin, inventor of "Vibroplex" semi-automatic key.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Electric Specialty Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1985.0885.02
- accession number
- 1985.0885
- catalog number
- 1985.0885.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder
- Description (Brief)
- This portable Fi-Cord reel-to-reel tape recorder was made in Switzerland around 1964. Intended for use as a portable dictating machine, the Fi-Cord model 101 weighs nearly two pounds (one kilogram).
- The Swiss economy has always been heavily dependant on exporting manufactured products, especially finely crafted items like clocks and watches. This tape recorder exhibits the skill one associates with Swiss engineering and also shows that they quickly adopted transistors for small electronic devices.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1964
- maker
- Fi-cord International
- ID Number
- 1986.0407.01
- accession number
- 1986.0407
- catalog number
- 1986.0407.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Poster, Cleveland: Many Peoples One Language
- Description
- Waves of non–English–speaking European immigrants flooded the cities of industrial America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local governments and civic groups sought to encourage immigrants to learn to speak, read, and write English. This 1917 poster from the Americanization Committee of the Cleveland Board of Education was posted in schools in an attempt to reach immigrant parents through their children.
- An appeal to attend free evening English classes appears on this poster in six languages : Italian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Polish, Yiddish, and English. Cleveland's factories, steel mills, port facilities, and assembly plants teemed with the new working–class arrivals from central and eastern Europe. On the eve of the American entry into World War I, nationalistic passions were rising and new immigrants were especially encouraged to "become American" by learning English and preparing for American citizenship.
- The 29" x 43" poster is a J. H. Donahey publication printed by the Artcraft Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1917
- referenced
- Cleveland Board of Education
- graphic artist
- Artcraft Company
- ID Number
- 1986.0799.01
- accession number
- 1986.0799
- catalog number
- 1986.0799.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Telephone Answering Machine
- Description (Brief)
- The Japanese emphasized electronic technology when rebuilding their manufacturing capability after World War II. The need to replace factories and equipment destroyed during the war gave them the opportunity to take advantage of the latest innovations and enter new markets. The invention of the transistor at Bell Labs in 1947 proved to be a significant opportunity for Japanese electronics companies like Minatronics.
- This model TE-155 answering machine does not electrically connect to the telephone, A desk telephone was placed on the deck of the unit and the lever is slipped under the handset. When the phone rang, the lever lifted the hand-set and the recording began. This indirect method of recording was required due to AT&T’s disapproval of telephone answering machines. Since the device did not connect to the company’s lines, the user avoided sanction.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1966
- maker
- Minatronics Corporation
- ID Number
- 1987.0176.01
- accession number
- 1987.0176
- catalog number
- 1987.0176.01
- model number
- TE-155A
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder
- Description (Brief)
- About ten years after the invention of transistors, Steelman Phonograph & Radio Company produced this portable tape recorder that used seven transistors in its circuits. Although heavy by today’s standards, weighing about 6.5 pounds, the “Transitape” recorder demonstrated possibilities of size and weight reduction that using transistors could provide. The Transitape used a reel-to-reel tape design with tapes that could record for sixty-four minutes. Six mercury cell AA batteries operated the amplifier for about 300 hours and another seven batteries operated the motor for 50 hours.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1960
- maker
- Steelman Phonograph & Radio Co., Inc.
- ID Number
- 1987.0520.01
- accession number
- 1987.0520
- catalog number
- 1987.0520.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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