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.

Boy with a Snowball

The signed pencil drawing was squared with faint grid lines for transfer to another medium, probably a plate for reproduction as an etching or engraving. It could also have been squared for transfer to a canvas.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The signed pencil drawing was squared with faint grid lines for transfer to another medium, probably a plate for reproduction as an etching or engraving. It could also have been squared for transfer to a canvas.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
original artist
Schussele, Christian
ID Number
GA.16633
catalog number
16633
accession number
119780

chisel

Wooden handle with tapered metal point, chisel for removing small bits of wood between the lines of the design of a woodblock. One of a group of woodblock-cutter's tools used in Graphic Arts exhibit of Japanese printmaking techniques from about 1890 to 1990s. Identified as No.
Description
Wooden handle with tapered metal point, chisel for removing small bits of wood between the lines of the design of a woodblock. One of a group of woodblock-cutter's tools used in Graphic Arts exhibit of Japanese printmaking techniques from about 1890 to 1990s. Identified as No. 9 in watercolor drawing GA 03209.02 showing the tools of the block cutter.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
GA.03210.09
accession number
22582
catalog number
03210.09

Patent Model of a Rotary Lithographic or Type Press

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a rotary lithographic press which was granted patent number 200927. The revolving type cylinder had two flat sides where type forms or lithographic stones were mounted.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a rotary lithographic press which was granted patent number 200927. The revolving type cylinder had two flat sides where type forms or lithographic stones were mounted. The two curved surfaces of the cylinder were used as ink distributing surfaces. Patentee George Newsum was from Leeds, England, where he patented this press in 1872.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1878
patent date
1878-03-05
maker
Newsum, George
ID Number
GA.89797.200927
accession number
089797
patent number
200927
catalog number
GA*89797.200927

nude woman reaching into water

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
graphic artist
Totten, Ralph J.
ID Number
2013.0196.09
accession number
2013.0196
catalog number
2013.0196.09

Nandina domestica

Japanese wood block print. No. 21 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.Currently not on view
Description
Japanese wood block print. No. 21 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.
Location
Currently not on view
engraver
Kido, Kotaro
ID Number
GA.03217.21
catalog number
03217.21
accession number
22582

cable 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
ID Number
EM.332352
accession number
294351
catalog number
332352
collector/donor number
31-26

U-848 Fog Bowl Porcelain Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
EM.330869
catalog number
330869
accession number
299122

Brooks Ramshorn Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1870
ID Number
EM.321436
catalog number
321436
accession number
243904

telegraph polar 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
Maker
Western Union Corporation
ID Number
EM.331615
accession number
294351
catalog number
331615
collector/donor number
15-25

Paella Valenciana

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1968-1970
author
Waters, Alice
ID Number
2016.0085.17
accession number
2016.0085
catalog number
2016.0085.17

birth and baptismal certificate

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1808
associated date
1808 10 02
associated user
unknown
unknown
ID Number
1987.0006.09
accession number
1987.0006
catalog number
1987.0006.09

sheet(paper)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
U.S. Government Printing Office
ID Number
GA.20485
accession number
203077

Buckingham type polar 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
Maker
Western Union Corporation
ID Number
EM.331982
collector/donor number
15-15
accession number
294351
catalog number
331982

Telegraph Sounder

Telegraph sounders convert electrical pulses into audible sounds and are used to receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Short pulses make a dot, slightly longer pulses make a dash.
Description (Brief)
Telegraph sounders convert electrical pulses into audible sounds and are used to receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Short pulses make a dot, slightly longer pulses make a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers. The pulses energize the sounder’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm. The arm makes a loud “click” when it strikes a crossbar and the operator translates the pattern of sounds into the original language. This unit, made by well-known New York manufacturer Tillotson & Co., and is a tyipcal unit from the latter 19th Century.
Location
Currently not on view
maker
L. G. Tillotson & Co.
ID Number
EM.328387
catalog number
328387
accession number
270454

Letter to Samuel Copp from Mary Copp

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1909-10
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Mary Esther
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Mary
ID Number
DL.006873.003
catalog number
6873.003
accession number
28810

Amber Glass Spool Insulator, CD 1070

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1925
ca 1925
maker
Hemingray Glass Company
ID Number
EM.329979
catalog number
329979
accession number
283729

Brownson telegraph repeater patent model

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 model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office by inventor Walter Brownson of Wellsville, Ohio, along with his patent application. In June 1868 he received patent #78573 for his "new and improved Telegraphic Apparatus." This object appears in the patent as figure 5. The switch seen on the base opposite the electromagnets pivots an insulated plate "to cut out at pleasure both the main circuit and the second local from the circuit." Though Brownson designed the unit, the armature has the marking of L. G. Tillotson of New York, a well-known telegraph instrument maker.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1868
maker
L. G. Tillotson & Co.
Brownson, Walter G.
ID Number
EM.251256
catalog number
251256
accession number
48865
patent number
78573

The Return from the Woods

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
1962
original artist
Palmer, Frances F.
publisher
Travelers Companies, Inc.
ID Number
2012.3050.05.11
nonaccession number
2012.3050
catalog number
2012.3050.05.11

Nandina domestica

Japanese wood block print. Nol 4 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.Currently not on view
Description
Japanese wood block print. Nol 4 in a series of progressive proofs of a stylized group of leaves and berries from the shrub Nandina domestica. Designed by Tsubaki Chinzan, engraved by Kotaro Kido, and printed by Iwakichi Yamamoto.
Location
Currently not on view
engraver
Kido, Kotaro
ID Number
GA.03217.04
catalog number
03217.04
accession number
22582

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Peanuts

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Peanuts comic strip shows Lucy pulling the football away just as Charlie Brown tries to kick it.Charles Monroe Schulz (1922-2000) started the weekly single-panel humor series Li'l Folks shortly after World War II.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Peanuts comic strip shows Lucy pulling the football away just as Charlie Brown tries to kick it.
Charles Monroe Schulz (1922-2000) started the weekly single-panel humor series Li'l Folks shortly after World War II. The series included and introduced Schulz's characters, Charlie Brown and a Snoopy-like dog. Peanuts, a revised version of the same strip, was debuted in 1950. Schulz drew the strip for the length of its run.
Peanuts (1950-2000) debuted after a revision of a similar strip Li'l Folks. During the course of its run the strip ran internationally with its universally recognizable characters Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, and others. One of the strip's more popular story lines involved Charlie Brown trying to kick a football, and Lucy pulling it away at the last minute. Peanuts was adapted into various media, including comic books, commercial animations, feature films, television specials (such as A Charlie Brown Christmas) and the Broadway musical You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, which had a five-year run in the 1960s.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-09-25
graphic artist
Schulz, Charles M.
publisher
United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22400
catalog number
22400
accession number
277502

CD 152 Hemingray Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Hemingray Glass Company
ID Number
EM.289416.4
catalog number
289416.4
accession number
59127

Archbishop Laud

Mezzotint after painting formerly attributed to Anthony van Dyck, hung in the Drawing Room at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg as a repetition by the workshop of van Dyck.
Description
Mezzotint after painting formerly attributed to Anthony van Dyck, hung in the Drawing Room at Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg as a repetition by the workshop of van Dyck. The painting that is now considered the original portrait is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England. Print removed from George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 2. Marsh probably wrote the numeral 11 in pencil in the lower right margin. Pencil note in the binding indicates the print was taken out for framing in March, 1894. SI Secretary's Library stamp embossed lower right.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1779
original artist
Van Dyck, Anthony
engraver
Watson, James
publisher
Boydell, John
ID Number
1978.0534.03.13
accession number
1978.0534
catalog number
1978.0534.03.13

Letter to Mary Copp from Sarah Rathbone

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1810-09-04
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
ID Number
DL.006873.012
catalog number
6873.012
accession number
28810

copy book letter learning

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1783
associated date
1783 03 18
ID Number
1987.0006.05-06
accession number
1987.0006
catalog number
1987.0006.05-06
1987.0006.05 1987.0006.05-06

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