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Early twentieth-century telephone periodicals

This collection, assembled by media historian Matthew Hockenberry, contains a selection of telephone journals and associated materials from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Examining the Bell System from the perspective of the independent telephone industry and Bell’s own internal periodicals through materials catalogued by the AT&T Archives, the National Museum of American History, and the private records of telephone collectors, it offers a point of reference for investigations into the technical, social, and commercial organization of telephony at the turn of the century.

Set curator's note: 

The composition of the constituent companies of the Bell System varied considerably over its history, but it suffices to say that the legacy of the Bell Telephone Company gave way to a sprawling assembly of corporations over which the company exerted both legal control—through ownership of patents, corporate stock, and contracts—and social control, with common directors, board members, and technical standards. From the Regional Operating Companies and Long Lines division to the work of Western Electric and Bell Labs, the company's newsletters and magazines offered a means for internal connection that stood in contrast to the ostensibly more modern ones they marketed. But as Elspeth Brown writes, these “lush publications” were intended to foster a sense of association—with the same sort of industrial paternalism that was endemic to the large firms of the early twentieth century.

It should be little surprise, then, that the periodicals’ contents could be quite eclectic. Whereas some, such as the Bell System Technical Journal, featured fairly circumscribed fare, others included topics as varied as telephone practice in the Far East, floor plans for switchboard stations, and technical descriptions of magnetic telephones—all in the space of a single issue. This was even as independent periodicals on the technical and commercial developments of telegraphy and telephony seemed to form, fluctuate, and fold at a rapid rate. Editors treated them in the context of broader electrical developments, and journals oscillated around this identity. The Operator, for example, began as a telephone magazine, but ended the nineteenth century as Electrical World. Electrical Engineering moved in the opposite direction, becoming the Telephone Magazine before being acquired by Harry MacMeal's independent Telephony. With editorial direction from the capacious industrial discourse of late nineteenth-century America, the result is a revealing insight into an era of unprecedented industrial pride and electrical innovation.

 

Displaying 1 - 10 of 2009
Audio
Gorst, Charles. 1915. “Songs And Calls Of Our Native Birds No. 3”. 17735-A. RCA Victor.
Audio
Barklow, William, and Robert J. Lurtsema. 1980. “Voices Of The Loon”. North American Loon Fund and the National Audubon Society.
Audio
1977. “The Wrens”. A Guided Tour Of The Voices Of Over 40 Species In Perhaps The Ultimate Songbird Family. Gainesville, Florida: Published privately by John William and Carol K. Hardy.
Audio
Borror, Donald J., and William W.H. Gunn. 1963. “Sounds Of Nature Vol. 8”. Thrushes, Wrens, & Mockingbirds Of Eastern North America. Federation of Ontario Naturalists.
Person

H. J. L. Struycken was a Dutch otolaryngologist, phonetician, and acoustician. After studying medicine in Groningen, in 1893 he started working at the Voorburg psychiatric hospital near Vught, where he attempted to distinguish psychiatric conditions from neurological speech disorders. His interest in phonetics and acoustics took Struycken to France and Germany, to visit clinics and approach instrument makers who could produce tuning forks for him to use in his clinical research.

1896
1950
Person

Adriaan Daniël Fokker was a prominent Dutch theoretical physicist. He is known in theoretical physics for the Fokker-Planck equation and his work on the theory of relativity. In the years around 1930, however, Fokker also became interested in room acoustics and the tuning of musical instruments. He designed several sound reflectors, which amplify the sound reaching the audience, especially in churches, but his work on musical instrument tuning is what made him more widely known.

1887
1972
Person

Cornelis Zwikker was a Dutch physicist and one of the initiators of the Dutch Sound Foundation. After studying chemistry, mathematics, and physics in Amsterdam, he worked with Philips in Eindhoven until 1929, when he was appointed professor of theoretical and applied physics at the Delft University of Technology. Zwikker was responsible for the acoustic design of many buildings, among them the studios of the Dutch broadcasting organization AVRO.

 

Source:

1900
1985
Text
1941. “Publicatie No. 29 Van De Geluidstichting”. 29. Geluidstichting. Zwikker, C., Van Den Eijk, J. & Kosten, C. W. (1941). Absorption Of Sound By Porous Materials Ii. Delft: Geluidstichting.
In document content:

Explanatory Note and Acknowledgments:

The archival documents concerning the history of the Geluidstichting (Sound Foundation) and Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (Dutch Society for Acoustics) in the “Sound & Science” database include a digitized selection of the documents held at the archives of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (located at the office of M+P Consultants, Vught, The Netherlands). The sequence of the selected and digitized documents follows that of the original paper archive, but the numbering of the digitized documents has been added by us to facilitate digital storage. The dates of the newspaper clippings in the archive were tracked down using the online retrieval system for Dutch newspapers, magazines, and books, www.delpher.nl.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Board of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (NAG), Gijsjan van Blokland (chair NAG and senior consultant at M+P Raadgevende Ingenieurs, Vught, The Netherlands), and M+P managing director Jan Hooghwerff for their excellent help in making the digitization possible. We would also like to thank Karin Bijsterveld for selecting and describing the documents, and Jonathan Haid for doing the actual digitization work.

Text
1941. “Publicatie No. 30 Van De Geluidstichting”. 30. Geluidstichting. Kosten, C. W. & Zwikker, C. (1941). Theory Of The Absorption Of Sound By Compressible Walls With A Non-Porous Surface-Layer. Delft: Geluidstichting.
In document content:

Explanatory Note and Acknowledgments:

The archival documents concerning the history of the Geluidstichting (Sound Foundation) and Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (Dutch Society for Acoustics) in the “Sound & Science” database include a digitized selection of the documents held at the archives of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (located at the office of M+P Consultants, Vught, The Netherlands). The sequence of the selected and digitized documents follows that of the original paper archive, but the numbering of the digitized documents has been added by us to facilitate digital storage. The dates of the newspaper clippings in the archive were tracked down using the online retrieval system for Dutch newspapers, magazines, and books, www.delpher.nl.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Board of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (NAG), Gijsjan van Blokland (chair NAG and senior consultant at M+P Raadgevende Ingenieurs, Vught, The Netherlands), and M+P managing director Jan Hooghwerff for their excellent help in making the digitization possible. We would also like to thank Karin Bijsterveld for selecting and describing the documents, and Jonathan Haid for doing the actual digitization work.

Text
Geluidstichting,. 1942. “Publicatie No. 40 Van De Geluidstichting”. 40. Ontwerp Akoestische Begrippen En Grootheden. Omschrijvingen En Definities. Delft: Geluidstichting.
In document content:

Explanatory Note and Acknowledgments:

The archival documents concerning the history of the Geluidstichting (Sound Foundation) and Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (Dutch Society for Acoustics) in the “Sound & Science” database include a digitized selection of the documents held at the archives of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (located at the office of M+P Consultants, Vught, The Netherlands). The sequence of the selected and digitized documents follows that of the original paper archive, but the numbering of the digitized documents has been added by us to facilitate digital storage. The dates of the newspaper clippings in the archive were tracked down using the online retrieval system for Dutch newspapers, magazines, and books, www.delpher.nl.

We would like to express our gratitude to the Board of the Nederlands Akoestisch Genootschap (NAG), Gijsjan van Blokland (chair NAG and senior consultant at M+P Raadgevende Ingenieurs, Vught, The Netherlands), and M+P managing director Jan Hooghwerff for their excellent help in making the digitization possible. We would also like to thank Karin Bijsterveld for selecting and describing the documents, and Jonathan Haid for doing the actual digitization work.