Old Wires and New Waves- The History of the Telegraph, Telephone
and Wireless By Alvin F. Harlow. Originally published in 1936.
FOREWORD: THERE may be those who will think that a disproportionate
amount of space is given in this book to the early history of the
telegraph, as against the remarkable technical develop ments of the
past quarter or half century. May it be suggested that the birth
and infancy of ideas are intrinsically more note worthy, more
important, than their middle age The centuries of groping for a
method of quick communication, the one long century of mans
striving to make electricity his servant, the pioneer days of the
telegraph, when not only it but all America was simple and crude
these are to most folk to-day so exotic, the last-named phase is to
the student so significant a picture of the youth of American
society and the nation, that, in the judgment of the author, they
should be dealt with in detail for the benefit of a generation
which knows them not. On the other hand, the rapid developments in
telegraph, tele phone, and wireless in recent days are described at
length in newspapers and magazines as they appear and they come so
swiftly and we are so inured to them that the astounding inven tion
of yesterday has to-day become a commonplace, and to morrow is
superseded by something still more miraculous. It is therefore
scarcely worth while for so slowly built and so final a publication
as a book to attempt chronicling all the - minor de tails of recent
progress in communication, especially since these matters become so
complex and so abstruse that full explanation of their development
and functioning would be too complicated for non-technically minded
readers.Nevertheless, these modern developments have not been
neglected, but are treated as fully as space limitations and the
need for clarity seem to dictate. As usual, I have leaned heavily
in my research upon the original documents and other materials in
the collections of the New York Public Library and the New York
Historical So ciety. The latters Henry ORielly Collection is one of
the most valuable telegraph sources in existence. The great
communications companies have all been very help ful. Through the
good offices of Mr. William P. Banning, Assis tant Vice-President
of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, I spent many hours
in personally conducted tours through that companys three huge
operating buildings in New York City, any one of which is worth a
trip to New York to see I was overwhelmed with pamphlets, reports,
documents, magazine articles, and books and any and all photographs
I desired for illustrations were at my disposal. Mr. Langdon, the
librarian Miss Winburg, keeper of the photographs Messrs. Fowler
and Mills of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Rood and Lea of the
Long Lines Building Carl and Sedgwick of the New York Telephone
Company, all gave their assistance with the courtesy characteristic
of the organization. Mr. E. W. Goode, of the publicity department
of the Inter national Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, supplied
all the data at his command, loaned books not to be found
elsewhere, procured permission for me to see the companys operating
rooms, gave me whatever photographs I desired, and searched the
country over for older ones which were not in his files. The Radio
Corporation of America, through Messrs. Galvin, Wright, and Weaver,
was also veryhelpful. I was conducted through its operating
building and was supplied with photographs and technical
information as needed...
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