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.
2,994
Page 1 of 150
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Patent model for feeding apparatus for cylinder presses
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a feeding apparatus for cylinder presses. Maker, patent number, and date are unknown.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1870
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1997.0198.20
- catalog number
- 1997.0198.20
- accession number
- 1997.0198
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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two local cable service relays
- 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.332945
- accession number
- 294351
- catalog number
- 332945
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Engraved woodblock of an American Indian woman
- Description
- This engraved woodblock of a portrait of an American Indian woman was prepared by Henry Hobart Nichols (1838-1887) and the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. for the Bureau of American Ethnology in about 1880.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1880
- publisher
- Bureau of American Ethnology
- printer
- Government Printing Office
- graphic artist
- Nichols, H. H.
- ID Number
- 1980.0219.0528
- accession number
- 1980.0219
- catalog number
- 1980.0219.0528
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Rustic Interior
- Description (Brief)
- An undated ink drawing which may have been intended for use as a reproduction
- Location
- Currently not on view
- original artist
- Ferris, Stephen James
- ID Number
- GA.16696
- catalog number
- 16696
- accession number
- 119780
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Study of a Dog
- Description (Brief)
- An initialed sketch in pencil of a dog called Black made in 1875
- date made
- 1875
- original artist
- Ferris, Stephen James
- ID Number
- GA.16689
- catalog number
- 16689
- accession number
- 119780
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
The Hay Makers
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1835
- maker
- Richard Griffin & Co.
- ID Number
- 2013.0071.11
- catalog number
- 2013.0071.11
- accession number
- 2013.0071
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent Model of a Typesetting Machine
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for improvements to typesetting machines, specifically in the control of type traveling from storage channels to assembly point. The invention was granted patent number 244723. Both Patentees Lorenz and Johnson had a financial interest in the Burr typesetting machine (see Lorenz's earlier patents).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1881
- patent date
- 1881-07-19
- maker
- Lorenz, William A.
- Johnson, Louis K.
- ID Number
- GA.89797.244723
- patent number
- 244723
- accession number
- 089797
- catalog number
- GA*89797.244723
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Egyptian Street Scene
- Description
- James David Smillie etched Frederick Arthur Bridgman’s painting of a Middle Eastern street scene Lady of Cairo Visiting for the American Art Review issue of June 1881. Commenting on the issue, the New York Times noted that Smillie had been “particularly happy in his drawing” of the donkey, which appears prominently in the print.
- A catalogue raisonné of Smillie’s prints has estimated that about 10,000 impressions of this scene were made, primarily for use as art magazine illustrations. To produce such a large number of prints from a copper plate, a soft metal that deteriorates with use, the publishers would have had to face the copper by electroplating. In this process (known as “steel facing”), a thin layer of iron is deposited on the copper plate.
- Frederick Arthur Bridgman (1847–1928) trained with Jean-Léon Gérôme in Paris and later was known as “the American Gérôme.” He made a number of trips from his Paris base to North Africa and Egypt to sketch and collect artifacts for his paintings of Egyptian and Algerian subjects.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1881
- original artist
- Bridgman, Frederick Arthur
- graphic artist
- Smillie, James David
- ID Number
- GA.14802
- catalog number
- 14802
- accession number
- 94830
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Letter to Esther Copp from Samuel Copp
- 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
- 1807-03-16
- originator (author or composer, etc.)
- Copp, Jr., Samuel
- recipient
- Copp, Esther
- originator (author, etc.)
- Copp, Jr., Samuel
- ID Number
- DL.006873.171
- catalog number
- 6873.171
- accession number
- 28810
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for inking apparatus for printing presses
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for an inking apparatus for printing presses, which provided an improved means of operating the carriage of inking rollers. Rollers pass over the entire length of a stone distributing ink more accurately and efficiently. The invention was granted patent number 188386.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1877
- patent date
- 1877-03-13
- maker
- Macdonald, F.
- ID Number
- 1997.0198.13
- accession number
- 1997.0198
- patent number
- 188386
- catalog number
- GA.89797.188386
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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The Adoration of the Shepherds
- Description
- Mezzotint after original painting by Bartolome Murillo once in the Salon at Houghton. Now in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Print tipped onto sheet bound in George P. Marsh’s copy of The Houghton Gallery, vol. 1.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1775
- original artist
- Murillo, Bartolome Esteban
- engraver
- Green, Valentine
- delineator
- Farington, George
- publisher
- Boydell, John
- ID Number
- 1978.0534.02.55
- accession number
- 1978.0534
- catalog number
- 1978.0534.02.55
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Semi-automatic Telegraph Key
- Description (Brief)
- Telegraph keys are electrical on-off switches used to send messages in Morse code. The Mecograph Company created a right-angle semi-automatic telegraph key around 1906. They competed with Horace Martin's Vibroplex Company until Martin purchased Mecograph in 1914. A semi-automatic key repeated the Morse code dots rapidly, much like holding down a key on a keyboard for repeated letters. The operator still keyed the dashes but could work much faster.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1910
- maker
- Mecograph Company
- ID Number
- EM.331682
- model number
- 07728
- collector/donor number
- 100-057
- accession number
- 294351
- catalog number
- 331682
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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single current telegraph relay
- 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.331053
- accession number
- 294351
- collector/donor number
- 04-10
- catalog number
- 331053
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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"Franklin" common press
- Description (Brief)
- This English common press dates from about 1720. It includes English box hose and guide boards, but is missing its gallows, tympan, frisket, and bar catch. The press has a height of 78 inches, a width, at cheeks, of 30.5 inches, and a length of 57 inches. The platen measures 12 inches by 18.5 inches.
- The press was said to have been used by Benjamin Franklin in John Watts's printing shop in London in 1726. (Another common press, also said to have been used in that shop, is among the holding of the Science Museum in London.) In 1841 the 'Franklin' press was acquired by an American, John B. Murray, who shipped it to the United States. The press was put up for public auction, and exhibited at the Patent Office, the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, and the Smithsonian's U.S. National Museum before being sold to the Smithsonian in 1901.
- The 'Franklin' press shows evidence of use, numerous small changes, and fixes made over the years, but is, overall, remarkably complete. It carries two brass labels. The larger, dated June 1833, describes Franklin's re-visit to the Watts shop in 1768, when he ordered a gallon of porter for the printers and toasted his old press. The second, dated November 1841, records the presentation of the press to John Murrray by Harrild & Sons of London.
- The 1833 plaque reads: "Dr. Franklin's remarks relative to this press made when he came to England as agent of the Massachusetts in the year 1768. The Dr. at this time visited the printing office of Mr. Watts of Wild Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, & going up to this particular press (afterwards in the possession of Messrs Cox & Son of Great Queen Street of whome it was purchased.). This address'd the men who were working at it. "Come my friends we will drink together: it is now forty years since I worked like you at this press, as a journeyman printer. The Dr. then sent for a gallon porter & he drank with them. "Success to printing." From the above it will appear that it is 108 years since Dr. Franklin worked at this identical press. June 1833"
- Purchased from Felicia and Frank Tucker, 1901. Felicia and Frank Tucker were John Murray's widow and new husband.
- Citations: Philip Gaskell, "A Census of Wooden Presses," in Journal of the Printing Historical Society 6, 1970 (census no. 4, p. 26; Elizabeth Harris and Clinton Sisson, The Common Press (Godine, Boston, 1978; Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
- Description
- Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), American scientist, diplomat, and one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence, identified himself as a printer. He wrote his own epitaph long before he died: "The Body of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Printer. Like the Covering of an old Book, Its contents torn out and stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be lost, It will (as he believ'd) appear once more In a new and more beautiful Edition Corrected and amended By the Author."
- Franklin apprenticed in the Boston printing shop of his brother James from the age of twelve, but ran away at seventeen to Philadelphia. In 1724 he was sent to London where he worked as a printer in the firm of John Watts (where this press is said to have been used) before returning to Philadelphia in 1726. By 1730 he had set up his own printing business and published a newspaper, which gave him a forum for political expression. His political activities led to his involvement in the movement to free the Colonies from British rule. He spent the years 1757–1762 and 1764–1775 in England, returning to Philadelphia to participate in the First Continental Congress. From 1776–1785 he served in France, securing vital French assistance for the American revolutionary effort.
- The Franklin press in the Museum's collection is an English common press made early in the eighteenth century. It was on exhibition in the U.S. National Museum beginning in the 1880s, and it was shown in the Hall of Printing and Graphic Arts in this museum from 1964 to 2003. It is missing some of its parts, such as its gallows, tympan, and frisket, so it cannot be operated. A full-sized working replica of the press was made in 1984 for the Museum's exhibition, Life in America–After the Revolution.
- The story of how this press came to be associated with Franklin is rather complicated. While in England in 1768, Franklin is said to have visited the Watts firm and saluted the press in the shop where he had worked some 25 years before. A plaque added to the press in 1833 reads:
- "Dr. Franklin's Remarks relative to this Press, made when he came to England as agent of Massachusetts, in the year 1768. The Doctor at this time visited the printing office of Mr. Watts, of Wild Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and going up to this particular press (afterwards in the possession of Messrs. Cox & Son, of Great Queen Street, of whom it was purchased) thus addressed the men who were working at it. 'Come my friends, we will drink together. It is now forty years since I worked like you, at this press, as a journeyman printer.' The Doctor then sent out for a gallon of porter, and he drank with them- "Success to Printing"
- Franklin's visit was recalled by elderly printers who testified to the identity of the press three-quarters of a century later. In 1841 the press was presented as "the Franklin press" to American banker John B. Murray, who received it for the express purpose of exhibiting it to attract contributions for the London Printers' Pension Society. He shipped it to the United States to be displayed as a relic associated with Franklin. It was shown at the Patent Office, the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and the Smithsonian's U.S. National Museum before being sold to the Smithsonian by Murray's widow in 1901.
- Date made
- ca 1720
- referenced
- Franklin, Benjamin
- Franklin, James
- Watts, John
- Murray, John M.
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- GA.14237
- accession number
- 1901.38701
- catalog number
- GA*14237
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
drawing
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- GA.06566.08
- catalog number
- 06566.08
- accession number
- 19048
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Telegraph Key
- 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. Keys can be quite simple devices. This key was hand-made by W. W. Shock, a Union operator at Point Of Rocks, MD, in 1864. Confederate troops had destroyed the regular key so Shock made this "perfectly practicable and serviceable" replacement.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1864
- ID Number
- EM.220375
- catalog number
- 220375
- accession number
- 41421
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent Model for a Machine for Smoothing the Sides of Type
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine to smooth the sides of type; the invention was granted patent number 631. In the inventor's opinion, this foot-driven machine allowed the operator to rub around sixty thousand types in a day, in conditions of less "unhealthiness" than the usual. The model is missing its treadle.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1838
- patent date
- 1838-03-10
- maker
- Bruce, Jr., David
- ID Number
- GA.89797.000631
- patent number
- 000631
- accession number
- 089797
- catalog number
- GA*89797.000631
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for printers' chases
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for an adjustable type chase that could be clamped onto the type, avoiding the use of quoins; the invention was granted patent number 108759.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1870
- patent date
- 1870-11-01
- patentee
- Clements, Thomas A.
- ID Number
- GA.89797.108759
- accession number
- 089797
- patent number
- 108759
- catalog number
- GA*89797.108759
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
submarine cable relay
- 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.331768
- collector/donor number
- 31-28
- accession number
- 294351
- catalog number
- 331768
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
telegraph relay bank
- 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.332388
- collector/donor number
- 100-556
- accession number
- 294351
- catalog number
- 332388
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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- Communications 2994
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- Science 123
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- Prints 741
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- Telegraph Keys 117
- Telegraph Relays & Repeaters 83
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- Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection 82
