Telegraph Website Links
If you're interested in the history of telegraph, John Casale's Telegraph-History website is an amazing reference, containing a wealth of information about various telegraph instruments, the instrument makers, and different historical events.
Bill Burns has been studying the history of the undersea Atlantic telegraph cable for quite some time and has extensive information about everything cable-related.
Fons Vanden Berghen new improved website dedicated to the telegraph in Europe. .
The Sparks Telegraph Key Review
Russ Kleinman specializes in early wireless telegraphy and has a comprehensive list of the various wireless telegraph manufacturers with pictures of their instruments. There are also some great pictures of other types of telegraph keys as well. Be sure to check out the "Spark Key Project" link.
Randy Cole specializes in collecting Vibroplex bugs. In addition to pictures of all the different Vibroplex models, he has information to allow you to determine when your key was made based on the serial number.
List of Pre-1900 Telegraph Instrument Makers
Roger Reinke has compiled a comprehensive list of the 19th Century telegraph instrument makers, with dates on when the instruments were made. Very informative if you want to know when and where something was made.
Early Telegraph Instrument Makers
John Casale's Telegraph-History site has a page with history about the early telegraph instrument makers.
Smithsonian American History Museum Collection
The Smithsonian American History Museum now has a searchable database of their amazing collection. Enter a keyword in the search box, such as "telegraph" or "Morse" and see what you can find !
Museum for Communication, Berlin, Germany
This Google Arts & Culture website features an interesting history of the telegraph in Germany with lots of pictures of very early telegraph instruments from the Museum for Communication in Berlin, Germany.
Museum Victoria, Melbourne Australia
Museum Victoria has some amazing telegraph instruments in their collection, which you can search via the link above.
Morsum Magnificat was a quarterly journal from the UK devoted to the study of Morse and telegraph keys. MM was published between 1986 and 2004. Now all 89 issues can be found online and dowloaded from this website.
Ingenium: Canada's Science and Technologies Museum
This is a searchable database of the collection of the Canada Science and Technologies Museum. As with the Smithsonian website, enter a keyword in the search box, and see the items from their collection.
John Jenkins has an amazing collection of early telegraph instruments as well as other eary electromagnetic instruments. In addition, he has a museum in Bellingham Washington that is open to the public !
History of the Electric Telegraph
A link to a Google Books reproduction of the famous textbook on the Electric Telegraph by George Prescott
British Single Needle Telegraph
Sam Hallas has an excellent website that describes how a Single Needle Telegraph system works.
Located in Orleans, Massachusetts, the French Cable Station Museum was once the terminus for a submarine telegraph cable from Brest, France that was installed in 1898.
John, G0RDO, has a neat website dedicated to telegraph instruments, especially good for information about British or European instruments.
The Australian Telegraph Office
Ron McMullen, an ex Australian telegrapher, has put together a great website dedicated to Australian telegraph instruments.
The IK6BAK Telegraph Key Collection
Eliseo, IK6BAK has a really nice collection of telegraph instruments, especially Italian instruments. In addition, Eliseo hosts a forum on key collecting on his website.
Ron Ayling, G3YUH, is a master machinist whose hobby is making exact replicas of rare and famous telegraph keys. In addition to the above link (home page), check out these mind-blowing replicas he has made of some very rare bugs and other keys:
http://www.ronayling.dsl.pipex.com/keys10/more_on_morse_keys10.html
http://www.ronayling.dsl.pipex.com/keys9/more_on_morse_keys9.html
http://www.ronayling.dsl.pipex.com/keys8/more_on_morse_keys8.html
Manipulateurs Morse Anciens (French Keys)
Chris, F9WT, has a great page dedicated to French telegraph keys, as well as other keys from around the world !
Mark Brundrit's Telegraph & Radio Collection
Mark, M6BRN, has a great collection of telegraph apparatus, especially British keys.
Replacement Bug, Paddle & Key Parts
Donnie, WA9TGT, sells replacement parts for many different types of telegraph instruments.
Morse Keys & Telegraph Apparatus
Jan, PA3EGH, has a nice collection of telegraph instruments from all over the world, including lots of rare keys from the Netherlands.
Morse Key Collection of Thomas Andersson, OH6NT
Thomas has an interesting collection of mostly European keys, including some very rarely-seen keys from Finland
A brief timeline of the history of communications, from prehistoric times through modern telephone systems and the internet. Also includes links to the history of specific technologies such as radio, television, computing, internet, cell phones, etc
Website of Claudio Ruggieri, IZOKRC. Website is in Italian and English. Has pictures and information about a variety of telegraph instruments as well as some telegraph-related history. (For pictures of straight keys, see Claudio's Straight-Key Corner)
