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.

Name: Bureau of American Ethnology

Electrotype of "Feathers"

This electrotype of “Feathers” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 81 (p.176) in an article by Alfred Vincent Kidder (1885-1963) and Samuel J.
Description
This electrotype of “Feathers” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 81 (p.176) in an article by Alfred Vincent Kidder (1885-1963) and Samuel J. Guernsey (1868-1936) entitled “Archeological Explorations in Northeastern Arizona” in Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 61, (1919).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1919
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Kidder, Alfred Vincent
Guernsey, Samuel J.
ID Number
2000.0207.122
catalog number
2000.0207.122
accession number
2000.0207

Electrotype of "Ruins in Northeastern Arizona"

This electrotype of ruins in Northeastern Arizona was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 14 (p.48) in an article by Alfred Vincent Kidder (1885-1963) and Samuel J.
Description
This electrotype of ruins in Northeastern Arizona was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 14 (p.48) in an article by Alfred Vincent Kidder (1885-1963) and Samuel J. Guernsey (1868-1936) entitled “Archeological Explorations in Northeastern Arizona” in Bureau of American Ethnology,Bulletin 61, (1919).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1919
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Kidder, Alfred Vincent
Guernsey, Samuel J.
ID Number
2000.0207.130
catalog number
2000.0207.130
accession number
2000.0207

Electrotype of "Incidents in the life of Jaw (drawing by himself)"

This electrotype of “Incidents in the life of Jaw (drawing by himself)” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 63 (p.392) in an article by David I. Bushnell, Jr.
Description
This electrotype of “Incidents in the life of Jaw (drawing by himself)” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 63 (p.392) in an article by David I. Bushnell, Jr. (1875-1941) entitled Frances Densmore (1867-1957) entitled “Teton Sioux Music” in Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 61, (1918).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Densmore, Frances
ID Number
2000.0207.104
catalog number
2000.0207.104
accession number
2000.0207

Electrotype of "Toshkachito holds a Choctow blowgun in shooting position"

This electrotype of “Toshkachito holds a Choctow blowgun in shooting position” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 20 (p.37) in an article by David I. Bushnell, Jr.
Description
This electrotype of “Toshkachito holds a Choctow blowgun in shooting position” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 20 (p.37) in an article by David I. Bushnell, Jr. (1875-1941) entitled “The Choctaw of Bayou Lacomb St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana” in Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 48, (1909).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1909
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Bushnell, Jr., David I.
ID Number
2000.0207.091
catalog number
2000.0207.091
accession number
2000.0207

Electrotype of “Corn from basket maker caves"

This electrotype of “Corn from basket maker caves” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 65 (p.152) in an article by Alfred Vincent Kidder (1885-1963) and Samuel J.
Description
This electrotype of “Corn from basket maker caves” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Plate 65 (p.152) in an article by Alfred Vincent Kidder (1885-1963) and Samuel J. Guernsey (1868-1936) entitled “Archeological Explorations in Northeastern Arizona” in Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 61, (1919).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1919
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Kidder, Alfred Vincent
Guernsey, Samuel J.
ID Number
2000.0207.124
catalog number
2000.0207.124
accession number
2000.0207

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