Industrial Archaeology Review 35 (1). Special Issue

This paper discusses the changing infrastructure associated with electrical communications, from the introduction of the electric telegraph in the 1830s and the telephone in the 1870s through to the end of analogue technology. As technology developed and each system was supplanted by the next, evidence of its existence quickly disappeared. Telegraph equipment manufacturers have not necessarily survived either; a case study of the history of Reid Brothers, Engineers Ltd is given by way of example. The author concludes that selected preservation of the buildings and artefacts of superseded telecommunications systems is important for a full understanding of the technology. Au/LD

This paper reviews the history of the digital age of communications that began with the invention of the stored program computer in 1948 and is today realised by the World Wide Web, super-fast broadband and the smart phone. Taking a predominantly UK focus, it examines the key technological advances that were made, where they occurred and what archaeological evidence remains of their existence. The paper concludes by recognising that much of the archaeological evidence of communications' digital age has already been lost and that urgent action is needed to put in place appropriate preservation strategies.