Morse and Vail Telegraph

The first commercial telegraph line in the US was built in 1844 by Samuel Morse and his partner Alfred Vail with a grant from the US Congress.

Among many artifacts made and used by Morse and Vail, this exhibit contains Samuel Morse’s personal notebook in which that first telegraph line was designed 14 different ways. It is clear that they were experimenting trying to find the best design for the line.

This was the start of electronic communication technologies.