Western Union Museum

Series contains materials related to the Western Union Telegraph museum, a separate entity within the Western Union Telegraph Company. These materials are of several types. The material was placed in the museum from other divisions or departments of the company and was created by the museum itself. The Western Union Company placed many records into the Western Union Telegraph museum. The provenance of many items is unclear and often inconsistent. Many of the manuscript materials are similar to other materials in the collection. Most of the materials in this series have been marked as museum objects, i.e., they have been given museum identification numbers. Much of this material was assembled and either attached or placed together in notebooks. However, some items in this series are not marked as museum items and it is unclear whether those unmarked items are museum items or company records that came to the museum when the material was transferred. The correspondence of the Western Union Telegraph museum deals with donations of old telegraph equipment to the museum, 1925-1961. All correspondence concerning donations is arranged in the order it was received by the museum. Other correspondence represented in this subseries concerns Western Union Telegraph museum donations to other museums. These include the Franklin Institute, 1933; the Smithsonian Institution, 1913-38, 1959-61; and the U.S. Army Signal Corps Museum, 1954-1956. One folder contains correspondence regarding donations to other museums, 1933-1943. This subseries also contains correspondence of Samuel Morse, 1937-1938, and Henry Sayre Potter, 1930s, regarding paintings for the museum. There is also correspondence with several movie studios seeking the museum's help with several motion pictures, 1938-1939. Also included is correspondence concerning telegraph history. The miscellaneous folders contain correspondence concerning many aspects of Western Union museum administration and business. Acquisitions to the museum consists of notebooks detailing museum acquisitions, 1937-1940. The exhibit information contains a notebook on work and material in museum exhibits, 1936-1940 and a New York Museum of Science and Industry exhibit newsletter. The brochures and pamphlets consist of a variety of German language brochures with a Netherlands and Smithsonian guide. The catalogues in this series describe a variety of telegraph equipment.