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.

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.

For a few other posts from the Roseville, California area please click here.