Photo Exhibit: One Bell System. It works. “One hundred Years of Telephony in America” 1876 – 1976

Photo Exhibit: One Bell System. It works. “One hundred Years of Telephony in America” 1876 – 1976.

We recently acquired a set of 81 AT&T Photo Center photos. We hope you will enjoy this Photo Exhibit

Picturephone Model II Demo Video

We had a working demonstration of two Picturephone Model II at the Southern California Telephone Collectors Show on Saturday, March 19, 2016.

The video shows two working examples of the Model II Picturephones. They were setup to show the picture they took on their own screen. In the future we hope to be able to connect them together and maybe even make an actual video call. We are very pleased that Chris Brawner got these working after so many years.

We apologize for the first few minutes of the video not being in focus but hope that you will enjoy this little video.

Picturephone Model II Demo VideoPhoto source:
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

Picturephone Model II Demo

We plan to have a working demonstration of a Picturephone Model II at the Southern California Telephone Collectors Show on Saturday, March 19.

Picturephone Model II DemoPhoto source:
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

See you at the Southern California Telephone Collectors Show.

Click here for the Southern California Telephone Collectors Show info.

Click here for the show blog. There will be photos posted to the blog on the day of the show.

 

 

See you at the Southern California Telephone Collectors Show

Museum staff and volunteers are rebuilding the JKL Museum, lost in a devastating fire.

The Southern California Telephone Collectors Show on Saturday, March 19, is your opportunity to bring unique, rare, or unusual telephones and other telephone artifacts for the JKL staff to consider for purchase.

Donations are also appreciated as the museum is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization.
Of special interest are:
Call Directors, Autovon, Card Dialers, Multiline & Key Equipment, early Wood and Payphones.
Or do you have a telephone collection to sell?

Go to the JKL Museum website: http://jklmuseum.com/wishlist for a list of items they would like to acquire or call (209) 755-4949

Click here for the Southern California Telephone Collectors Show info.

Click here for the show blog. There will be photos posted to the blog on the day of the show.

Trailer Removal

Last Friday, January 15, 2016 was the day of the trailer removal:

The JKL Museum’s step-by-step emergency switching trailer was damaged beyond repair during the Butte forest fire on September 11 2015.

It was the first, and to this date only, item of ‘debris’ that has been removed from the museum site.
It took almost all day to remove the trailer from its location on to the main road. First it needed to be fitted with ‘new’ tires because one of them was burned away completely during the fire and the other one was exposed to extreme heat. It took a lot of maneuvering to get the trailer on the main road because there is no room to turn around on or near the museum grounds.

The following photos give an impression of the whole operation.

The trailer before the removal started.
The trailer before the removal started.
Putting on 'new' tires.
Putting on ‘new’ tires.
The trailer moved on to the driveway.
The trailer moved on to the driveway.
This truck turned out to be too big to move the trailer.
This truck turned out to be too big to move the trailer.
Hooking on the chains.
Hooking on the chains.
Moving the trailer up on the asphalt road.
Moving the trailer up on the asphalt road.
Hoping it doesn't tumble...
Hoping it doesn’t tumble…
Stay on the road!
Stay on the road!
Keep it coming...
Keep it coming…
Leaving the museum site.
Leaving the museum site.
Left the museum site.
Left the museum site.
Down the hill.
Down the hill.
Halfway down.
Halfway down.
Tight curve.
Tight curve.
Gone...
Gone…
Does it fit?
Does it fit?
Back on the main road.
Back on the main road.
The trailer in better days.
The trailer in better days.
The inside of the trailer before the fire.
The inside of the trailer before the fire.

 

The 1976 Bell System Telephone Book Cover

This week we received a very generous donation of two large original pencil sketches with a total of thirty vignettes by Stanley Meltzoff (1917-2006). The artwork,  created for the 1976 Bell System telephone directory cover,  was inspired by a piece known as the Gossips by Norman Rockwell.
Stanley Meltzhoff’s work has appeared in Saturday Evening Post, Life, Scientific American, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated.

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We are very excited about this donation. It’s a wonderful piece of telephone history.
In the art work, various characters from American history were depicted on the 1976 telephone book cover, each talking on one of the various types of telephones that were designed since Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.
The cover commemorates the 200th birthday of the United States and the 100th anniversary of the telephone. It appeared on more than 184 million Bell System telephone directory covers throughout the U.S.

See you at the San Jose Telephone Show – This Saturday – November 21

See you at the San Jose Telephone Show – This SaturdayNovember 21

For more information about the San Jose Telephone Show:

http://telephonecollector.info/shows/

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The San Jose Telephone Collectors Show on Saturday, November 21, is your
opportunity to bring unique, rare, or unusual telephones and other
telephone artifacts for the JKL2 staff to consider for purchase and/or
donation.

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