Fort Laramie National Historic Site [WY]

Description

The Fort Laramie National Historic Site commemorates Fort Laramie. Originally constructed in 1841 as a privately owned fur trade fort, the settlement was known as Fort John. It acquired its new name in 1849, after the U.S. Army purchased the outpost in order to protect travelers on the Oregon Trail from the local Native American populations. The United States and the Plains Indians honored the Treaty of 1851, which demanded peace from both parties, for only three years. During the 1860s, fort soldiers were primarily concerned with maintaining nearby telegraph wires. Collections include 19th-century frontier artifacts.

The fort offers an 18-minute introductory film, exhibits, Junior Ranger activities, and an audio tour for rental. The audio tour includes narration, readings from primary source documents, and soundscapes. The website offers a virtual tour.

Big Delta State Historical Park [AK]

Description

The Big Delta State Historical Park contains Rika's Roadhouse, erected in 1909 to house travelers on the historic Valdez-to-Fairbanks Trail. The structure remained in use until 1947. Part of the original kerosene crate floor has been restored, and the bedroom and kitchen are furnished in the styles of the 1920's and 1930's. Also located in the park is a Washington Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS) station. In 1900, it took a year to send a message from interior Alaska to Washington D.C. and receive an answer. To speed communications, the U.S. Signal Corps, a branch of the Army, built the WAMCATS. McCarty Station, was established in 1907 to maintain the telegraph. The Delta Historical Society maintains a museum housing artifacts, dating from 1900 to 1950, such as blacksmith tools, horse tack, dog harnesses and sleds, household items, and historic photographs.

The park offers guided and self-guided tours, a museum with exhibits, and period rooms.

Portrait of Samuel Morse

Description

In this Face-to-face Talk, Ann Shumard of the National Portrait Gallery details the life of Samuel Morse (1791-1872), including his early interest in portraiture and art, his career as an inventor and his work on the telegraph, and his support of Louis Daguerre's daguerreotype.

Historic Speedwell [NJ]

Description

Historic Speedwell presents mid-19th-century life through the estate of Stephen Vail (1780-1864), proprietor of Speedwell Iron Works. The site highlight is the factory building where Alfred Vail (1807-1859) and Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872) completed and publicly demonstrated the electromagnetic telegraph in 1838. Other structures include an operational waterwheel; the Vail Home, furnished to an 1844 to 1864 appearance; 1849 carriage house; several residences; and a historic granary.

The site offers period rooms; traditional and interactive exhibits; guided tours of the factory building, Vail home, and Wheelhouse; hands-on workshops; Scout programs; and educational programs.

Thomas Edison House [KY]

Description

The Thomas Edison House served as Thomas Edison's (1847-1931) residence between 1866 and 1868. Built circa 1850, the home now contains collections including cylinder and disc phonographs, Edison Business Phonographs, an Edison Kinetoscope, and early light bulbs. Thomas Edison is best known for his invention of the electric light bulb. However, while living at this site, his main interest was improving telegraph technology.

The house offers exhibits, period rooms, guided tours, 10 through 35-minute films, a learning module which encourages creation of student inventions, and hands-on telegraph demonstrations.

Wells Fargo History Museum [CA]

Description

The Wells Fargo History Museum presents the history of Wells, Fargo & Co., a joint stock company for California banking and express business. Founded in 1852, the company was offering nationwide service as early as 1888. The museum collection includes a period Agent's office in a recreated historical building; an original Concord Coach, acquired by Wells Fargo in 1867; a 19th-century pocket watch; and two telegraph machines.

The museum offers exhibits and guided tours. The website offers a PDF listing educational standards covered during tours and a summary of tour topics.

Samuel F. B. Morse Papers, 1793-1919

Image
Annotation

Offers approximately 50,000 images of 6,500 items from the papers of 19th-century American scientist and painter Samuel F. B. Morse (1791–1872), inventor of the electromagnetic telegraph. In addition to science and art-related papers, the materials in the collection document Morse's interest in photography and religion, as well as his involvement with the American nativist movement. Includes correspondence, diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, books, pamphlets, broadsides, maps, drawings, and other materials, primarily produced during between 1807 and 1872.

The site provides a timeline supplemented with 15 documents; a family tree; two essays of approximately 1,000 words each (entitled "The Invention of the Telegraph" and "The Lesser-Known Morse: Artist, Politician, Photographer"); a bibliography of 22 titles; and links to 16 additional sites.

Searching capabilities leave much to be desired. Keyword searching applies only to titles assigned to documents by the Library of Congress. Thus even though the finding aid lists "Nativism" as a subject, a keyword search turns up nothing. The site unfortunately is of limited use because of this shortcoming.