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Apr 07, 2024

Photos of Telephones Through The Years

Cell phones came around much sooner than you'd think. We take for granted how convenient cell phones are in 2019. Everything we need–from a telephone and computer, to a camera and calculator–is

Cell phones came around much sooner than you'd think.

We take for granted how convenient cell phones are in 2019. Everything we need–from a telephone and computer, to a camera and calculator–is available in one simple device that fits in the palm of our hand. But it hasn't always been this simple. Take a look back at how phones have changed since the 1800s.

The early Bell telephonic device could be used as either a transmitter or as a receiver.

A Victorian woman uses the parlor telephone.

The first Chinese telephone operator manages a switchboard in San Francisco.

Professional gambler, Arnold Rothstein, pulls his telephone from an extendable wall mount.

World War I troops use a portable telephone to communicate with the base.

A businessman smiles as he takes a phone call.

A woman uses the curbside telephone service at the Hotel Constance in Pasadena, California.

Public communication is available for a price. A man sends a telegram on a coin-operated telephone.

It's a bird... it's a plane... No! It's a telephone! Singer John Charles Thomas performs into a telephone microphone, signaling down to a local radio station.

A Women's Auxiliary Fire Service officer operates the switchboard at her fire station.

Emily Post, a writer on the subject of proper etiquette, speaks on the telephone in her living room.

A man turns the crank to signal an operator, using the first telephone built for the Bell System by Western Electronic.

Post Office workers transcribe telephone messages via a typewriter.

Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe, holds two telephone receivers up to either ear while sitting backstage on a film set.

American actor, Sal Mineo, places a call on a wall-mounted spin-dial phone.

Postmaster General Reginald Bevins makes a call on the new South Lancs Car Radiophone Service–Britain's first car telephone service.

The original FaceTime–a researcher is testing the Model 500 View Phone at the Toshiba Tokyo headquarters.

A teenage boy talks on the telephone, while the other listens in.

Motorola Vice President John F. Mitchell demonstrates how easy it is to use a mobile phone in the city. Service for mobile phones was only available in the heart of metropolitan areas.

Early mobile phones weren't always so, um...mobile. A man uses his mobile phone on the streets of London, which required a suitcase-sized hookup.

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