Telephone Museum in Northern CA - JKL Museum of Telephony

Much progress has been made rebuilding our telephone museum! Our display cabinets and walls are full of phones from the 1870s to the 1980s. The library is growing and getting organized. Our 400 line Western Electric Step-by-Step telephone switch and the 400 line Stromberg Carlson XY switch are working and provide dial tone to a large number of our display phones. Still a lot of items on the to-do list including the outside plant, military, civil defense, mobile phones, test equipment and teletype displays which are currently under construction. If you want to see our progress, check the pictures below, or write to us and set up a tour. That is what it is all about, visitors coming to look at telephone history at our telephone museum.

Thank you to the collector community and friends of the JKL Museum for helping us in so many ways. We couldn’t have come this far without your help.

Wishlist

We are still seeking quality items to add to the collection. Have a look at our wishlist.

Also check out our other web sites at:

Use the CONTACT FORM to contact us.

American Museum of Telephony – aka: JKL Museum of Telephony
+ 1 (209) 755-4949
Email Us at jklcollection@jklmuseum.com
501(c)(3)

The photo slider below shows current photos:

The entry hall with an antique oak double wall telephone booth.
The entry hall with an antique oak double wall telephone booth.
View of the main room.
Early wood wall telephones.
Wood wall telephones and switchboards.
Display case with several US and foreign telephones.
Kellogg wall switchboard and early Strowger dial telephones.
Display of green telephones made by Western Electric and other manufacturers.
Display of AUTOVON telephones.
Museum library.
Switchroom; Stromberg-Carlson XY on the left & Western Electric Step-by-Step on the right.
Switchroom; "Jane" our Audichron Speaking Clock.
Switchroom detail.
Western Electric type 500 telephone display.
Western Electric Panel phone and 6 and 10-button keyset telephone display.
Western Electric Panel phone display.
Western Electric 6 and 10-button keyset telephone display.
Western Electric Trimline telephone display.
Western Electric Princess telephone display.
International telephone display.
Telegraph display.
Calldirector display.
6-button keyset telephone display.
Automatic dialer display.
Prototype, field trail and display model display.
Payphone wall 1.
Payphone wall 2.
Character and Novelty phone display.

Our Telephone Museum’s Name

The JKL name is the creation of our telephone museum’s main benefactor, John K. La Rue, whose initials just happen to appear above the number 5 on most telephone dials.

The rebuilt collection includes telephones and related equipment from all over the world, dating from the late 1870s to the 1980s. Among our many goals is to have working telephones and demonstrations from all eras, and to interconnect working telephones by way of the collections extensive central office type switching system. The collection includes a library of telephony publications, including catalogs, brochures, and telephone company publications. The collection continues to grow through the acquisition of private collections, donations of library materials, and purchases from private and public sources.

We hope you enjoy visiting our museum website with many photographs we have assembled of the old and new collections in a variety of categories. If you have questions or would like to schedule a tour, please send us an email.

JKL Museum of Telephony News and Updates

Today visitors: 7

Today visits: 10

Yesterday total visitors: 20

Yesterday total visits: 27

Total visitors: 1,719 – Since Aug 1, 2024

Total visits: 2,283 – Since Aug 1, 2024