I’ve been pretty quiet on the blog these last few months. Sorry about that. You know, life…it happens. In case you were interested, one annoying thing that happened recently – I cracked my phone twice in a 48 hour period, which I didn’t think was possible. I had to replace my phone…twice. Oh, modern world problems! Does anyone know why we still call it a telephone? Because I can’t even remember the last time I used it to make a phone call.
When it comes to actual telephones, you know, instead of mini-computers, the place you want to visit is the New Hampshire Telephone Museum, you know, instead of a Verizon store. The museum, home of the largest collection of antique telephones and equipment in the Northeast, opened in 2005. Paul Violette, the manager of the museum, is the grandson of Alderic O. “Dick” Violette, who worked in the telephone business for over forty years. The collection of over a thousand artifacts comes from Violette as well as the Bartlett family, who collectively worked in the telephone industry for almost ninety years. Some objects also come from Garry Mitchell, another longtime telephone worker from Woodbury, Connecticut. In addition to the large collection of phones, there’s also a working switchboard, a group of linemen’s tools, a large wooden phone booth, parts from Alexander Graham Bell‘s original device, as well as antique hand-crank wall phones.
I have a feeling if we keep cracking our phones making them unworkable, we might end up right back where we started…hand cranking our phones and sharing party lines (you know, the family phone plan of its day).
