Edmonton's Telephone Historical Centre opens its Collections Conservation Room.

 

On September 28, 2011, The Telephone Historical Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, officially opened the Collections Conservation Room. The new exhibit room, located in the basement of the Prince of Wales Armouries Heritage Centre was renovated by the museum’s group of dedicated volunteers. In addition to moving the telephone museum’s archives and artefact collection from the old storage room, the volunteers created a brand new exhibit tracing the changes in telephone technology from the 1880s to near present.

Visitors at the opening, including Edmonton’s historian laureate, Ken Tingley, were given a tour of the new room and a chance to see the museum’s extensive collection of old telephones and other telecommunications technology. Included in the tour were demonstrations of a newly restored desk pay phone and an electricity-generating magneto crank.

Founded in December 1987, the Telephone Historical Centre serves as both a museum and a science centre. After moving from its original location in an old telephone exchange in 2004, the Centre rebuilt many of its hands-on exhibits including a step-by-step automatic branch exchange, a phone booth from the 1930s, and a sound-wave display that lets visitors “see” their voice.

The museum is open to the public four days a week and during the National Science and Technology Week, October 18-21, the museum will offer visitors a tour of the Collections Conservation Room. For more information, please see www.telephonehistoricalcentre.com or call 780-433-1010.