Telegraph Key From Vail Mansion (614)

Object/Artifact

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Vail Museum

Name/Title

Telegraph Key From Vail Mansion (614)

Entry/Object ID

2014.582.1

Description

Telegraph Key from Vail Mansion, black and other metals, wire and wood, donated by Nola Brown Forbes

Context

This telegraph key is a direct link to the career path of T.N. Vail, who, as a young man, was in the telegraph business. It was his work experience during this time that helped him develop the skills necessary to understand the ramifications of Alexander Graham Bell's invention, the telephone, perhaps, even more so than the inventor himself. While Bell invented the telephone, it would take T.N. Vail's technical expertise to make the telephone practical. Vail took lessons in wiring and electronic distribution learned from his telegraph days and applied them to the telephone.

Cataloged By

Betty Beattie Bolevic & Maxine Gray Aldrich

Provenance

Provenance Detail

Nola Brown Forbes