Museum of Communications

Panel switch district selector frame at the Museum of Communications

The Herbert H. Warrick Jr. Museum of Communications, originally the Vintage Telephone Equipment Museum, is located in Centurylink's Duwamish Central Office at East Marginal Way S. and Corson Avenue S. in Georgetown, Seattle, Washington. It "reveals the history of the telephone and the equipment that makes it all work." The museum was originally sponsored by the Washington Telecom Pioneers, and is now a part of the Telecommunications History Group, based in Denver, CO. It features vintage equipment from AT&T, Western Electric, Pacific Northwest Bell, USWest, and other organizations.

History

The museum was founded as a joint effort by Pioneers, a Volunteer Network, a non-profit public service organization, and Don Ostrand and Herb Warrick, both employees of Pacific Northwest Bell. Originally envisioned to be one of three telephone museums in the Pacific Northwest, this was the only one that materialized.^[1] Work started in 1985,^[2] and the museum opened to the public in Fall of 1989.^[3] Frames of electromechanical switching equipment were brought in from existing central offices, and lifted to the third floor by cranes. From there, volunteers rewired the equipment to make it functional once again.

Collection

Teletype, microwave, and radio equipment at the museum.

The museum has the following notable items in its collection:

1923 Panel Switch from Seattle's Rainier/Parkway exchange
1941 No. 1 Crossbar
c. 1950s No. 5 Crossbar from the Adams exchange on Mercer Island
c. 1970s #3 ESS
North Electric CX 100
Step-By-Step (SXS) equipment
755 and 756 PBXs
Teletype equipment from the 1920s through the 1980s
A red GPO phone booth, flown to Seattle from the UK^[4]

Most of the artifacts in the museum's collection are functional, and are maintained regularly by volunteers. The electro-mechanical switching systems, particularly the No. 1 and Panel offices, are the only remaining switches of their type in the world that are still functioning.. The No.5 crossbar office is one of two that operate in a museum setting in the U.S. (the other is at The Telephone Museum in Ellsworth, Maine). Although they are no longer connected to the PSTN, visitors can make calls between the switches in the museum.

References

↑ "Mercer Islander saw value in old phone technology - Mercer Island Reporter". Mercer Island Reporter. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
↑ "Past still calls to us at museum". The Seattle Times. 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
↑ "Vintage Telephone Museum". KOMO News. 1989-09-18. Retrieved 2016-06-17 – via Youtube.
↑ Broom, Jack (8 Sep 1995). "But Does It Take Dimes?". Seattle Times. Retrieved 17 Jun 2016 – via spl.org.

External links

Official website
Museum of Communications's channel on YouTube
Museum of Communications - Virtual tour
2005 Visit to the Museum of Communication - Telephone World

Museums in the Puget Sound region

Art	911 Media Arts Center Bellevue Arts Museum Cascadia Art Museum Frye Art Museum Henry Art Gallery Monarch Contemporary Art Center and Sculpture Park Museum of Glass Museum of Northwest Art Olympic Sculpture Park Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art Seattle Art Museum Seattle Asian Art Museum Tacoma Art Museum Whatcom Museum of History and Art

Aviation	Flying Heritage Collection Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour Heritage Flight Museum McChord Air Museum Museum of Flight Olympic Flight Museum Port Townsend Aero Museum

Children's	Hands On Children's Museum KidsQuest Children's Museum Seattle Children's Museum

Culture	Museum of Pop Culture Nordic Heritage Museum Northwest African American Museum Suquamish Museum Quinault Museum Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience

History	DuPont Museum Eastside Heritage Center Edmonds Historical Museum Harbor History Museum History House of Greater Seattle Issaquah Historical Museums Karshner Museum Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Museum of History and Industry Renton History Museum Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum Seattle Underground Washington State History Museum

Maritime	Browns Point Light Center for Wooden Boats Coast Guard Museum Northwest Northwest Seaport Snagboat Heritage Center Working Waterfront Maritime Museum

Military	Coast Guard Museum Northwest Lewis Army Museum McChord Air Museum Naval Undersea Museum Puget Sound Navy Museum Washington National Guard Museum

Natural sciences	Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture Museum and Arts Center, Sequim, Washington

Science and technology	America's Car Museum Bellingham Railway Museum Georgetown Steam Plant Living Computer Museum Museum of Communications Pacific Science Center SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention Vintage Motorcycle Museum

See also: List of museums in Washington and Museums and galleries of Seattle

Coordinates: 47°32′26″N 122°19′25″W / 47.54056°N 122.32361°W / 47.54056; -122.32361

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.