CBQ Classics Vintage Works Still Relevant Today

Abstract

Building on my broadcast history interests, I became interested in wire and submarine cable telegraph and telephone services back in the simpler days of the then-still-unified AT&T (see “A Few of My Favorite Things, Part 1,” in Vol. 50, Issue 1–2). The 1974–1982 antitrust case that broke up that monopoly stoked my interest further by making so much historical material available, some produced in that huge legal proceeding. Although few histories had been published for decades (especially of the telephone) thankfully, times soon changed. This second installment centers on brief review comments on two related topics: histories of American telegraph and telephone development, followed by a longer survey of histories of international telecommunication links. Naturally, there’s some overlap.