| Web Sites: |
Sites whose primary purpose is cable, telegraph, or telephone communications history and research: |
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Distant Writing - Electric Telegraphy in Britain |
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History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications |
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The Atlantic Telegraph Cables Trail - a detailed illustrated guide to visiting the historic Atlantic cable sites in County Kerry, Ireland |
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Donard de Cogan’s Papers - original research on aspects of cable and telegraph history |
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The Electromagnetic Telegraph - the development of International Morse Code, and related matters |
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The Morsum Magnificat Archive - and other historic telegraph material, hosted by Lynn Burlingame, N7CFO |
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Sam’s Telecomms Index - Sam Hallas’s UK-based site has many original documents, including scans of industry magazines such as Telegraph and Telephone Journal, together with useful links |
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Telegraph Equipment - Brooke Clarke’s reference website has historical and patent information on the development of the telegraph |
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Telegraph-History - John Casale’s articles on U.S. telegraph history |
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Telegraph Lore - Greg Raven’s site on Morse telegraphy |
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Straight CW-Corner - Claudio Ruggieri’s site on telegraph keys also has an extensive section on submarine cable apparatus (automatic translation from the Italian original) |
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The TCI Library - the on-line library of Telephone Collectors International, with many downloadable documents, as well as a detailed index (with links to archive copies) for the Bell System Technical Journal |
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The Telephone File - Bob Freshwater’s historical site on UK Customer Telephone Apparatus & Systems |
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Related websites with useful content: |
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Engaging with Communications - website by Professor Nigel Linge at the University of Salford, which promotes the importance of telecommunications and its impact on society |
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Computer Networking and Telecommunications Research Group - Salford University’s communications research and outreach project (now archived) |
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Telegraph and Telephone Stamps of the world - Steve Panting's site on precancels |
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| Museums: |
Museums whose primary focus is telegraphy
(landline or cable): |
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French Cable Station Museum - Orleans, Massachusetts |
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Heart’s Content Cable Station Provincial Historic Site - Newfoundland |
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PK Porthcurno Museum of Global Communications - Cornwall.
New as of February 2022: PK Online Collections Catalogue |
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Valentia Heritage Centre - Ireland |
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Museums with some telegraphy equipment
(landline, cable, or radio) on display: |
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American Museum of Radio & Electricity - Bellingham, WA. See also the Spark Museum |
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Antique Wireless Association Museum - Bloomfield, NY.
Despite its name, the AWA encompasses all aspects of communications history, including the beginnings of landline telegraphy and submarine cables.
The AWA has now opened its extensive new museum, details at the link above. |
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The Communications Museum Trust - United Kingdom. A new non-profit organisation working to establish a museum of communications technology |
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Connected Earth [archive link] - this site, now abandoned, included a collection search of the remains of the BT Museum, which were dispersed among many institutions throughout Britain in 2001. |
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Locust Grove - Poughkeepsie, NY: Samuel Morse Historic Site |
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Musée des arts et métiers - Paris: An extensive collection of telegraph and cable material, only a small selection of which is on display.
See catalogue entries for cable, or search the objects catalogue for specific terms. |
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Museu das Comunicações (Communications Museum) - Lisbon, Portugal: Extensive exhibits on the history of communications in Portugal, including telegraphy and undersea cables. |
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Museum of Communication - Burntisland, Scotland: Some telegraph items are illustrated and described on the site. |
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Museum of the History of Science - Oxford: The Marconi collection and some cable material.
Collections search - try cable or telegraph.
See below for the Marconi archives. |
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Museum of Technology - Peterborough: A number of telegraph and cable items are illustrated and described on the site. |
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Powerhouse Museum - Sydney, Australia - has a small collection of cable samples and related material |
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Resources for Learning in Scotland - telegraph resources in Scottish museums, libraries, and archives |
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Royal Navy Museum of Radar and Communications (Collingwood Heritage Collection) - formerly at HMS Collingwood near Southampton, England, but now on line only, following the closure of the museum in April 2021 and the move to storage of its artifacts and archives |
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Science Museum - London - has a large amount of early material, some of which is now on display in the comprehensive Information Age gallery. This has "Cable" as one of its six theme areas, and many objects from the exhibit are are also shown in detail on the museum’s website.
The associated Science & Society Picture Library may also be useful, as well as the Science Museum Library catalogue (search for cable or telegraph). Many items formerly accessible only at the Wroughton storage site may now be requested for use in the Dana Research Centre and Library adjacent to the museum. See also the Science Museum Archive Catalogue. |
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Smithsonian Institution - Washington DC. Catalog search for "telegraph" |
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SPARC Museum - near Vancouver, Canada. Has cable equipment from Bamfield Pacific Cable Station. |
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| Archives: |
Archives and Libraries with significant collections
of telegraph books and documents: |
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AIM25. Electronic access to collection level descriptions of the archives of over one hundred higher education institutions, learned societies, cultural organisations and livery companies within the greater London area. |
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Anglo-American Telegraph Company Records 1862-1947 are held at the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. The records consist of 14 cubic feet of material, housed as 51 volumes in 44 boxes.
See also Western Union records below. |
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British Postal Museum & Archive (London). Mainly British postal history, but includes some early telegraph documents and instruments. Search for Exact Phrase: telegraph cable.
The museum also has a complete run of Post Office Green Papers, a series of booklets from the 1930s on various aspects of GPO operations, including telegraphy and engineering. |
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BT Archives (London). British telecommunications history: library; original source documents, including early records of the private telegraph companies; photographs, films and videos, Many records have been scanned and put on line; these can be found by searching the BT Digital Archives catalogue |
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Cable & Wireless Archive - a large collection of documents and artifacts (mostly held at Porthcurno; see below), catalogued at the National Archives, London.
As of February 2022 there is a comprehensive catalogue at the PK Online Collections webite.
This includes an index to over 8500 of the staff records held at the museum. The archive will make digital copies or perform research on request. |
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Canadiana Online - an archive of Canadian documentary heritage. Search for Atlantic Telegraph, Cyrus W. Field, etc. |
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CNAM - Le cNum (Paris) - a fully indexed collection of scientific journals (mostly in French). Search for telegraphie, cables sous-marins, etc. |
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Cyrus W. Field Papers are held by the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. These are housed in 11 boxes and 15 oversize folders.
See also Anglo-American above and Western Union below. |
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e-rara - Swiss libraries archive of digitized rare books from the 15th to 19th century. Includes a small number of works on telegraphy and electricity, with full PDF downloads. |
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The Thomas Edison Papers project has many documents on Edison’s work in telegraphy, and that of others. Much of the archive is searchable and viewable on line. |
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The Engineering and Technology History Wiki, (USA) has documents, oral histories, and other related material. Search for submarine cable, telegraph, and similar terms. |
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The Imperial College and Science Museum Libraries (London and Wroughton) have some early submarine cable and telegraphy manuscript material |
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The Institution of Civil Engineers (London) has some early submarine cable and telegraphy material in its library. The Virtual Library offers on-line access to archive material, although membership or a subscription is required to view much of the content |
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The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (London) has important collections of early submarine cable and telegraphy material.
Archive Catalogue search link: search for “submarine cables” and “submarine telegraphy” |
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The International Telecommunications Union (Geneva) has been co-ordinating worldwide communications since 1865. The ITU’s website provides PDF documents from all international conferences held from 1865 through 2012. Many other historical documents are also available in digital form. |
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Kelvin letters and papers at the University of Glasgow |
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King’s College, London has an archive of material bequeathed by Charles Wheatstone on his death in 1875, although much of his apparatus has been dispersed |
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Library and Archives Canada has telegraph and cable material distributed throughout its collections |
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Library of Congress (USA) has telegraph and cable material distributed throughout its collections |
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Maps - the David Rumsey Historical Maps collection includes many with early cable routes shown. And Barry Lawrence Ruderman Rare Books lists many more map resources |
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The Marconi Archive (Bodleian Library, Oxford) catalogue is now on line. This collection includes some material from Siemens Brothers and Henley’s |
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Memorial University of Newfoundland Digital Archives has full text search of many items which may be viewed on line |
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The National Library of Australia has telegraph maps, images, and other material on line |
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The New York Public Library Research Libraries have telegraph and cable material, mostly at the main branch and the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL). Search Subject: "Cables, Submarine", for example |
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Documents from Siemens Brothers (UK) and Siemens (Germany) are held by: |
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Siemens AG (Munich, Germany) |
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The Marconi Archive (Bodleian Library, Oxford) |
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Greenwich Heritage Centre (London) |
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Heritage England Archive (Swindon) |
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The Smithsonian Institution Library (Washington DC) has a large collection of works on the history of electricity which includes much telegraph material.
For research in all areas use the Research Information System. |
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Documents from the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company (Telcon) are held by: |
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National Maritime Museum (London): direct link to Telcon documents in the archive catalogue, over 870 entries.
Search here for cableship names and other records - note that Crew Record entries include indexed lists of crew names, and a search will show all documents containing the requested name. |
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PK Porthcurno Museum of Global Communications
503 catalogue entries for Telcon |
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Merseyside Maritime Museum (Liverpool): included in the BICC archive |
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Science Museum: Berner (Telcon 1900-1930) collection (PDF). Access may be requested at the Dana Library |
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Allan Green has written an excellent summary of the history of Telcon and its successor companies, which includes additional information on access to archive material (54KB PDF) |
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Tyne & Wear Archives Service (England) has the archives of cable ship builder Swan Hunter, and of other ship builders in the area. |
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The Western Union Telegraph Company Records are held by the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. This is a large archive comprising
452 cubic feet of material in
865 boxes.
See also Anglo-American Records and Cyrus W. Field papers above.
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| Catalogues: |
Trade catalogue archives which may include telegraph equipment |
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Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum. The applied electricity section of this 1877 catalogue describes the most significant and important collection of early telegraph instruments and material ever assembled |
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CNAM, Paris: Scientific instrument trade catalogues from the Alain Brieux collection |
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Instruments for Science: Scientific Instrument Trade Literature at the Smithsonian Institution |
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Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin |
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The Scientific Instrument Commission has a comprehensive directory of trade catalogue sites |
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| Collections: |
Private collections of telegraph equipment and documents: |
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K4TJP Telegraph Collection |
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Morsekey.net - Eliseo Chiarucci’s collection of Italian and other instruments, telegraph maps and books (in Italian) |
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Morsemad.com - telegraph keys and related items |
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Signa Telegraph Collection - Gustavo Coll, Uruguay |
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The Sparks Telegraph Key Review - Russ Kleinman’s collection |
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Telegraph Instruments of Europe and Telegraphy - Fons vanden Berghen’s collection websites |
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TelegraphKeys.com -Doug Palmer’s collection |
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The Telegraph Office - Neal McEwen’s collection [archive site] |
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The Vibroplex Collector’s Page - Randy Cole’s collection |
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W1TP Telegraph & Scientific Instrument Museums - Tom Perera’s collection |
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| Patents: |
Patent search: |
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Worldwide Patents and Scholarly Data at Lens.org. Easy to use interface. |
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Worldwide Patents at esp@cenet. To search for older patents, select the Worldwide database. For more options use SmartSearch - see help for instructions. |
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British & European Patents at IPEXL Patent Search (free account required) |
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British Patents Help at the British Library |
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French Patent Search. 19th century
French patents from the INPI
(Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle), 1791-1865, with plans to extend the database until 1902. It may be easier for non-French speakers to browse the site via Google Translate |
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US Patent & Trademark Office Search. No full text search prior to 1976, but useful for finding all patents issued on a specified date, for example. |
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Google Patents (US and worldwide). Full text search of all US patents and many others. |
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US Patent Models Volume 1 and Volume 2 at the Smithsonian. A new index to the museum’s collection of over 10,000 models includes many telegraph-related inventions. Two volumes, downloadable in PDF format at no charge (epub and mobi editions also available). |
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| Search: |
Useful search resources, including newspaper archives: |
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Bell Laboratories Record, 1925-1961 - searchable archive at the World Radio History site of all issues of this communications engineering magazine |
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Bell System Technical Journal, 1922-1983 - searchable archive of all issues of the Bell Labs communications engineering magazine. The TCI Library has a useful index to this publication. |
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The British Colonist Archive 1858-1910 has many articles about cables, particularly those of the West Coast of Canada.
Thanks to the Rough Radio website for this link. |
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British History Online- digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. A number of references to cable and telegraph may be found using search |
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The British Newspaper Archive indexes many newspapers from the collection of the British Library. Pay-per-view, but searching is free and snippet results may be useful. |
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The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Archive 1841-1902 has some articles about cables, mainly those terminating at New York. |
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California Digital Newspaper Collection (from 1849 on) has many articles about cables terminating in California, and worldwide. |
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Dingler’s Polytechnic Journal. German-language searchable archive of this 19th century resource, which includes many high-resolution images. Accessing the site via Google Translate will make it easier to navigate for non-German speaker. |
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Genealogy Bank US Newspaper Archives (1690-2010) has full text search of newspapers from most states. Full access requires a subscription, but search result snippets can be useful. |
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Google Book Search- includes many early works on telegraphy and cables.
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Google Newspaper Archive Search - includes multiple on-line newspaper archives, many free. |
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Grace’s Guide: British Industrial History has information on the engineering industry in Britain from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the present day. The site also has fully-indexed and accessible PDF files of all issues of the British trade paper The Engineer from 1856-1960, and partial indexing and access to issues after that. |
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The Guardian and Observer (UK) Archives have many articles about cables and cable laying, but are pay-per-view. Searching is free. |
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Hathi Trust Book Search - includes some full-view books not available at Google Books. Some issues of the Post Office Electrical Engineers’ Journal between 1908 and 1922 are viewable here |
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Internet Archive- the texts section includes many works on telegraphy and cables; the Prelinger Archive has a number of short films on telegraphy and communications which may be viewed on line or downloaded. |
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JSTOR - a digital archive of academic journals. Some content is freely accessible; paid content may be read at many libraries. |
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Library of Congress: Chronicling America has full-text search of many American newspapers from 1860-1922. |
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The London Gazette - The Official Newspaper of Record carries official, regulatory and legal information. Many interesting snippets may be found here, back to well before the electric telegraph era. |
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National Library of Australia Newspapers - not just Australian news, as many articles were reprinted from papers in London and elsewhere in the British Empire. |
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National Library of New Zealand: Papers Past - as with the Australian newspapers above, this resource includes both original and reprinted articles. |
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The National Register of Archives - contains information on the nature and location of manuscripts and historical records that relate to British history. |
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New York Historical Online Newspapers - a useful article at the Ancestor Hunt website listing many resources. |
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New York State Historic Newspapers - free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York’s unique history. |
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The New York Times Archive 1851-1980 has many articles about cable laying, particularly early expeditions and significant later projects. Most content requires a subscription. |
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The Old Bailey On Line - Full text search of The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913. Includes some telegraph-related cases. |
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The Online Books Page - A site with links to online books in many categories, including telegraphy and the Atlantic cable. |
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Scientific American Archive 1846-1869 at Cornell University’s Making of America project has full text search. |
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Singapore and Malaya Newspapers provides full text search and viewing of a variety of 19th and 20th century newspapers from this region. Many reports of cable laying in the Far East may be found. Use the advanced search for best results. |
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Suffolk Historic Newspapers provides full text search and viewing of a variety of 19th and 20th century local papers from this large county on Long Island, New York, where Marconi and Tesla had installations and where submarine cables land. Use the advanced search for best results. |
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The Times (London) Archive 1785-1985 has many articles about cables and cable laying, but is pay-per-view. In a remarkably short-sighted move, the company has recently eliminated personal access to the archive search - an institutional subscription is now required even for this. |
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USA & Canada Historical Newspapers hosted by the Old Fulton NY Post Card website . Over 30 million pages listed and searchable. Check the FAQ for detailed search instructions. |
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Welsh Newspapers Online at the National Library of Wales has full text search of many newspapers between 1804 and 1918; these include accounts of cable expeditions. |
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Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of online newspaper archives worldwide, including both free and pay sites. |
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WorldRadioHistory.com - searchable archive of a large number of American, British, and international radio and broadcast magazines. |
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United States Historical Maps & Charts: |
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Office of Coast Survey
Historical Map & Chart Collection - some charts show cable routes and landings off the coast of the Unites States |
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Worldwide library catalogue search: |
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Worldcat - consolidated catalogues of many, but not all, libraries worldwide |
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Ship and Crew search resources: |
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Cableships at Atlantic-Cable.com |
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The Crew List Index Project - the most comprehensive resource for finding ship information and crew agreements |
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Cable & Wireless Staff Records at the PK Porthcurno Museum Archives. Over 8500 records are indexed as of February 2022 |
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Crew lists and agreements and log books of merchant ships after 1861 - research guides at the UK National Archives (scroll down for Merchant Ship guides). See also this general guide to maritime research. |
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Crew Agreements - resources for finding original crew agreements, including those for many cable expeditions of the 19th and 20th centuries
(note that this is archived from 2007 and information may be out of date) |
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Crew List Name Search - subscription service at Find My Past, but searches are free |
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Lloyd’s Register - resource page for tracing shipping history. This directory site lists volumes which are on line. There is also a document search site. |
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Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters - some cable ship information may be found on this site |
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Maritime History Archive - at Memorial University, Newfoundland. Many crew lists of merchant ships with a searchable index |
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Maritime History Records - comprehensive research guide at the UK National Archives gives sources at other archives. Also a comprehensive list of Military and Maritime resources. |
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Masters and Mates Certificates at Ancestry.com - searches are free but a subscription is required to view the data. A very useful resource for the period 1850-1927, showing scans of original certificates. |
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Merchant Navy Seamen 1835-1941 - records from the UK National Archives via findmypast.co.uk. Searches are free but a subscription is required to view the data.
The National Archives also has a guide to researching merchant seamen. |
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National Maritime Museum - has cableship logbooks in its Telcon archive; these generally contain a complete crew roster for cable voyages of the Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Company. See this CS Telconia page for an example of a logbook. Other cableship crew records and official logs may be found by searching on the ship’s name in the archive catalog. |
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Tyne Built Ships - many cableships were built in the shipyards around Newcastle |
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Wreck Site - some cableships are listed here |
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