Roseville Telephone Museum

/ Bulldog Travels

The Roseville Telephone Museum located in old town Roseville is a great little stop  which requires some planning.  The free museum is only open one day per month!  That’s right one day per month on the first Saturday.  I finally timed it right and took my young son along with a healthy anxiety assuming I would have to keep him from touching everything!  To my surprise the docents there, it seems all of whom have children and grand children, were enthusiastic in encouraging my son’s tactile exploration.  They even guided him over to some actual working telephones so he could “call Mommy” on the old timey phone and sit in the phone booth.

The museum has a wonderful collection of equipment which was actually used by Roseville Telephone company in early days and a large amount of equipment which was donated to them by other telecommunications lovers who wanted their items protected  and shared.

The docents were fantastic in their brief but thorough explanations keeping both me and my little guy occupied and interested.  I think the greatest evidence of this is that my son now points to every old telephone he sees and says “Phone! Talk.”  This is pretty great considering most kids born after 1995 don’t know what a phone looks like other than a cell phone.

It must have been an interesting job managing all of the phone calls in one area.
Cutest little operator I have ever seen.
Shiny colored insulator sure are pretty.
Can you keep up with all of the work going on at this switchboard?
Ever wonder what was under a man hole cover?
This tiny little museum is open one day per week only!
I wonder who he was talking to?
“Hello Operator I would like to place a call to Grandma collect please!”
Do these bring back some memories?
Lots of things for a person to gaze at
I’ve always wondered what these things were that I saw laying all over my Grandparent’s house as a youngster.
Can’t say I care to dail a rotary phone anymore now that I can speak to my iPhone but they do bring back a lot of memories.
The folks at the museum were overly kind letting my little guy press all of the buttons.
Ever wonder what was under that manhole?  Anyone have any of the phones pictured here?  We certainly had a mickey mouse phone!  Anyone remember calling the operator to make some phone calls!?

I couldn’t help but edit some of these photos in to black and white…enjoy.

Some of these old machines were just creaming to be seen in black and white.
Morris code anyone?
Hands free!
For a few other posts from the Roseville, California area please click here.

21 thoughts on “Roseville Telephone Museum”

  1. Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s we had a Pink Princess phone in my parents bedroom and the traditional Black telephone downstairs in the dining room. I remember party lines and when phone numbers had exchanges. Our was LA5 meaning Laurelton. We had or rather my parents had rotary dial telephones until they both passed away. Even though Daddy worked for what was called Ma Bell.

    As a Baby Boomer it’s remarkable to see the Dick Tracy Talking telephone watches are now real life Thanks to Apple and iPhones.

    I finally gave up my landline when I moved from Queens to Brooklyn back in November 2012. Also as a Senior who is on a budget I’m grateful to have free phone calls through the computer and WhatsApp.

    Wish that my brother Stephen and I could visit the Roseville Telephone Museum. It would bring back so many wonderful memories for us.

    Thanks for this excellent article.

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  2. Your little guy is such a cutie. Yes, I’ve worked one of those plug in switchboards in my younger days. Always found it very confusing especially as it wasn’t my job. Just filling in for someone occasionally was quite stressful. 😅 What a fascinating museum.

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  3. Wow! Fantastic. And I like that you take the little one to museums. Training, training. 🙂
    I still remember the only telephone in the village in Normandy where we had our house. Early 60’s, 2 separate pieces, and you had to turn a lever to ring the operator.
    And my aunt, my mothr’s sister was a telephone operator all her life, plugging the cables in and out. Just like in your museum.
    Great post Jenny

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  4. This is a SUPER idea for a kid day out. Colin must have had a blast, and you too, reminiscing but also watching him discover it all. I’m so very glad he got to touch stuff. It would have been super fun to take Tara to something like this (but taking T to Ireland last week was awesome too – just wait till Colin starts sharing travels with you!).

    Liked by 1 person

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