Telephone Pioneer Museum a hidden gem
Downtown museum celebrates the telephone, communications advances
The ability to pick up a phone, dial a few numbers and instantly be connected to someone halfway across the United States or in another country is a virtue that is often taken for granted in today’s fast-paced society.
Nestled between Central and Copper, just off Route 66 in downtown Albuquerque, sits a humble four-story institution housed within the original Colorado Telephone Co. building built in 1906. The Telephone Pioneer Museum celebrates not only the technological advances made in the communications sector but also New Mexico’s contribution to those advances.
The Land of Enchantment is well-known for contributions in nuclear power capabilities, art and growing one of the finest chile peppers in the continental United States, but we’ve also made significant contributions to the telephone communications industry.
These range from the creation of a sustainable heat shield for communication satellites such as Telstar 2, which are still used today, to the heroic actions taken by telephone pioneers such as Sally Rook, an operator who gave her life to warn the people of Folsom, N.M., of an imminent flood in 1908.
The Telephone Pioneer Museum is a true treasure that proudly calls the Duke City its home and celebrates the continuing history of the telephone.
Bell Co. veterans
Before opening the Telephone Pioneer Museum’s doors to the public on June 29, 1997, Gigi Galassini, the president and main curator for the museum, tour guide Susie Turner and other volunteers were career employees in the records department, administration and in the field of Bell Telephone Co. and its affiliates. These telephone pioneers know the ins and outs of the telephone business.
The first thing that can be noticed after walking through the front doors — aside from the vast
assortment of telephones and historic telephone equipment — are the smiling faces of the curators and volunteers of the museum.
If you believe that you love your phone and that it’s the greatest gift science has bestowed on humanity, then you’re in for a treat. Galassini and her wonderful team of tour guides and volunteers take that passion and admiration for telephones and add a thrilling historical and wanderlust effect.
Wide-ranging exhibits
The museum boasts a replica of the first telephone created by Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson, including a full replication of Bell’s workshop, all the way up to the modern home landline phone and even some variations of the modern cellular phone.
They have phones that sing classic tunes from Elvis Presley and even some of the first touch-screen and video phones in the United States dating back to 1971.
A large two-thousand-pound bronze medallion with a diameter just over seven feet embossed with the image of “Golden Boy,” the original mascot of Bell Labs, also calls the museum its home. It is one of only two originals still in existence since being cast in 1915 by Theodore Vail, the first president of Bell Telephone Systems. Relocated from Bell Telephone Laboratories in Manhattan to Albuquerque, it is a must-see exhibit.
“It’s always interesting when home schoolers come in. I like to ask them how many volunteers it took to get it into the museum? Did we march it up the stairs, take it in the elevator, or my favorite — get a crane to bring it in through a window,” says tour guide and volunteer Susie Turner.
“There’s a bit of math involved but I tell them to stay in school and get all the answers they can because it doesn’t get any easier outside of school.”
Other interesting pieces range from equipment used in the field including original climber gaffs and wire insulators to switchboards utilized by operators around the state.
Teaching moments
While many of the exhibits will strike a reminiscent tone with phone aficionados or baby boomers, the millennial generation and those younger will enjoy some of the interactive exhibits in the learning center.
These range from an emergency dispatch simulation, a working video phone from 1971, and a transistor demonstration that shows how messages are transmitted through wires using electricity, copper wire and magnets.
In regards to the emergency dispatch simulation, Turner says, “We don’t teach the children what 911 is, we teach them what the 911 operator has to get out of someone who is calling.”
A favorite is the tin-can telephone exhibit and a telephone booth with a familiar cape and set of glasses solemnly sitting on a shelf waiting for Clark Kent to return from his heroic exploits.
The museum also houses an art gallery with photos from the 20th century taken from the field where New Mexicans laid phone lines and placed poles in the ground as well as photos of the equipment housed in the museum
being utilized to place and transmit calls by operators.
This museum is fun for all ages, with a lot of cool historical facts and artifacts, interactive exhibits and a very enthusiastic staff.
Visitors are also welcome to purchase a plaque to be displayed on the Wall of Tribute to personify a memorial of someone’s life, a marriage, a successful career, or any other monumental life event or appreciation of an individual.
The Telephone Pioneer Museum has a fully stocked gift shop with historical mementos and other trinkets including jewelry and handmade crafts.
If visiting with a party of 10 or more, call 842-2937 to schedule a tour with a curator. You can experience a bit of New Mexico True history with a tour guide or through a self-guided tour of the museum.