It has only been 6 days since the Butte forest fire destroyed the American Museum of Telephony aka the JKL Museum of Telephony.
The site is still smoking and fire crews were still putting out hot spots today.
It is our intention to rebuild the museum and this involves lots of careful planning which will take some time.
In the mean time we would like to thank everyone for their ongoing support and please check our homepage at http://jklmuseum.com/ to see how you can help the JKL Museum of Telephony.
The JKL Museum of Telephony wants and needs your help and assistance in restoring the JKL Museum for the benefit of all who are interested in the preservation of telephone history.
The JKL Museum was destroyed by the northern California Butte fire on September 11, 2105. A major loss of telephone history. After the initial shock wore off, museum management decided that the JKL Museum will be rebuilt! It is a decision that has heartened and emboldened the volunteers and contributors who made the museum what it was, and we are inviting you and your friends to help us make this happen. We believe it can once again be the very best resource and repository of antique telephone equipment, advertising, library material, real working telephone switching systems, and all else telephone.We are looking to replace these losses through donations of individual items or the donation of collections that current owners would like to see become a part of the new museum. We are seeking quality items to replace those lost in the fire. Our not-for-profit museum’s official name is the American Museum of Telephony. The museum is a 501 (c) (3) organization, and all donations of any kind are tax deductible. We stand ready to negotiate the donation process with any who wish to help us in our efforts to bring to life the JKL-2 Museum. Those who wish to assist in other ways may wish to help us purchase some of the assets that otherwise might not be available. Your time and expertise would also be a way for you to help us reach our goals.
The American Museum of Telephony aka JKL Museum of Telephony was destroyed in a fire but we plan to rebuild something.
We do not yet know how, where or when but the JKL Museum of Telephony aka American Museum of Telephony is here to stay.
The JKL Museum / American Museum of Telephony and surrounding residences were lost to fire last night (September 10 2015).
The community of Mountain Ranch CA where the museum was located may also be affected. We were told by firefighters that the museum burned to the ground. Currently no one can get into the area. The fire is called the Butte fire. As soon as we have more news we will post it on our website: http://jklmuseum.com
Today several signs were mounted in and outside of the museum. Something interesting was discovered while mounting a Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania sign.
The old 1964 Bell System logo was covered with the 1969 Bell System logo. The replacement 1969 Bell System logo has now been mounted above the sign. You can see the mounting holes in the sign were the replacement logo was mounted. It must have been a lot cheaper to create covers for the old logo than create more signs.
The sign is a very heavy one that has been cast in bronze.
We thought you might enjoy this photo of the Western Electric PicturePhone Model II:
Western Electric PicturePhone Model II (June 1970)
“PICTUREPHONE® sets come rolling along conveyor belt toward final packaging at Western Electric’s Indianapolis plant. Most of Western Electric’s 19 plants funnel parts to Indianapolis for final assembly in preparation for the inaugural of PICTUREPHONE service on July 1 in Pittsburgh by the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania.”
For more information about the Western Electric Picturesphones see:
http://long-lines.net/tech-equip/Picturephone/BLR0569/picturephone.pdf
PDF of the May 1969 Bell Labs Record about the Western Electric PicturePhone Model II
Happy Birthday, Trimline! ??? Guess you just missed it too? According to Events in Telephone History by AT&T, August 2 1965, was when “Michigan Bell became the first company to sell Trimline phones on a companywide basis.”
Interested in reading more about the Trimline? Check out the upcoming August 2015 issue of the Telephone Collectors International publication Singing Wires Journal. It contains an article “From Butt Set to Beauty” The Trimline is 50 Years Old by Paul Fassbender.
The JKL Museum of Telephony collection contains many antique telephones and a few not so antique. There are several telephones in the JKL Museum collection that are related to the Trimline development.
You can check them out on our site in the virtual exhibit “Pre—production models, prototype, display telephones, and related objects.”
Look for the Demitasse, Schmoo, Contour, Trimline I, a golden Trimline and others.
You are also welcome to come and see them for yourselves at our telephone museum. Check out our homepage or use the contact option in the menu bar to get in touch.
Last week Jerry & Chris managed to get one of our Western Electric 1964, Model I, Picturephones working. There is still work to be done but we hope to be able to put this on display at the JKL Museum.
For more information about the Western Electric Picturephones:
We acquired a new addition to the JKL Museum Collection. Keith Cheshire acquired this rare for our telephone museum through Steve Flocke at a recent telephone show.
We are very happy to be able to add this dial to our collection of dials at the JKL Museum of Telephony.
Keith Cheshire hopes to provide us with more information about this very interesting dial and its use. He is currently doing some research regarding this dial and we hope to be able to give an update in the not too distant future.
