Collection: Museum of Global Communications

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Porthcurno was the landfall site of the undersea cable connection to India in 1870. By the early 20th Century, it had become the biggest cable station in the world, linking Britain with its empire and the wider world through a network of 100,000 miles of cable. PK Porthcurno – Museum of Global Communications tells the story of our connected world, from the first experiments in telegraphy to the worldwide communications we all use today.

  The museum has a comprehensive range of 19th and 20th Century telegraph equipment that relates to the operation and maintenance of undersea cable networks. These specialist instruments have international significance and includes equipment developed specifically for the Eastern Telegraph Company.
  There are 400 items that form the original core collection at the museum. This collection was assembled by the cable operating companies from 1870, with provenance indicating that there was a ‘museum’ at Porthcurno in the 1890s and one at the Eastern Telegraph Company’s Head Office in London from the mid-1920s.

  When the telegraph station at Porthcurno closed in 1970, one of the lecturers at the associated Engineering College saved old apparatus that was being discarded and used these to show his students how communications had evolved over the century. When the college itself closed in 1993, he and other volunteers set up a small museum in the World War Two Tunnels. The museum was officially opened in 1998.

  This museum collection was later supplemented by artefacts from:

  • The Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester
  • National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh
  • National Museum of Science and Industry, London
  • The Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Cambridge
  • The Danish Post and Telegraph Museum, Copenhagen

  A further 250 items, formerly part of the General Post Office telegraphy collections, were transferred to PK Porthcurno from BT Heritage in 2008 providing important examples of equipment used in overland telegraph systems.

  Other gifts have been made to the museum from companies and individuals associated with telecommunications. As well as artefacts, these include personal records of telegraph company employees, such as diaries, letters, and photograph albums.

  In 2009, the museum was awarded Designated status from Arts Council England for its core collection of undersea telegraph objects and its historic archive, recognising them as outstanding, world-class collections.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  There are currently 4000 museum objects listed on the museum’s collection database.

  The collections represent the specialist subject of global undersea communications from its origins in the mid-19th Century to modern day fibre optics. The subject is tied to the establishment and development of the telegraph station at Porthcurno which became the world’s largest cable station.

  The main period covered by the collections is from the late 1860s to the 1970s. The range and extent of the collections provides a comprehensive overview of the development of the international communications industry focusing on the undersea cable networks, including details of key individuals and events. Other supporting collections relate to the invention and application of the inland telegraph from 1837.

  The collections cover all aspects of cable telegraphy including development, cable laying and repair, operating the cables, testing and fault finding, and maintenance of the network.

  The object collections at PK Porthcurno include:

  • Grade II and II* listed historic buildings; the Cable Hut (1929), the Edwardian cable station (1904), and the World War Two Tunnels (1941).
  • Parts of the original telegraph system and later developments as used at Porthcurno from 1870 onwards.
  • Working exhibits demonstrating semi-automatic signal ‘regeneration’ in operation from 1925 onwards.
  • Related collections of early electro-mechanical signalling and electric telegraphs from the 1840s onwards.
  • Samples of telegraph cables from 1850 to 1950.
  • Samples of telephone cables from 1940 to 1970.
  • Samples of fibre optic cables from 1980 onwards.
  • Models of cableships and other items relating to cable laying and maintenance from 1880 to 1980.
  • Test equipment and fault location equipment used on the cable network from 1870.
  • Phototelegraphy equipment.
  • Scientific instruments and demonstration equipment.
  • Related contextual communication equipment, including telephones and radio telegraphy/wireless.
  • Specialist tools and maintenance equipment.
  • Textile collections including telegraph uniforms, sportswear, and flags.
  • Social history items, including tableware, sport trophies, ceramics, furniture, medals, and cap badges.

  A collection of radio transmitters and receivers form a special exhibition in the Radio Room.  This collection consists mainly of marine radios and World War Two equipment with ancillary items.

  Non-accessioned supporting collections include:

  • Duplicates and spares, especially in relation to our working telegraph instruments.
  • Items used for demonstration and display.
  • Items used for educational purposes, including handling collections.
  • Items made by museum volunteers for operational or demonstration purposes.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC