American Museum of Radio and Electricity
Encyclopedia
48°45′5.25"N 122°28′49.39"W
The American Museum of Radio and Electricity is an interactive museum
located in Bellingham, Washington
, which offers educational experiences for audiences of all ages through galleries and public programs that illustrate the development and use of electricity, radio and the related inventions that changed the course of human history. The museum features a collection of artifacts showcasing four centuries of human innovation from 1580 into the 1950s.
s, spare parts
, schematic
s, recordings
, and vintage magazine
s and manuals owned by a Bellingham resident, Jonathan Winter Winter's collection continued to grow, and by 1998, the Bellingham Antique Radio Museum was officially established, with the more than 800 radio sets from Winter's collection forming the core of the museum's collection.
The museum took on its present name in 2001 when it moved into its 23000 square feet (2,136.8 m²) facilitiy and John Jenkins, a former sales and marketing manager at Microsoft
, retired and became co-curator of the museum. Jenkins added his collection to the museum, which included early wireless and electrical devices, and rare books with first editions dating back to 1560
and written by
Robert Boyle
,
Michael Faraday
,
C. F. du Fay
,
Benjamin Franklin
,
Luigi Galvani
,
William Gilbert,
Joseph Henry
,
Heinrich Hertz,
James Clerk Maxwell
,
Pieter van Musschenbroek
,
Georg Ohm
,
Hans Christian Ørsted
,
Alessandro Volta
,
among others.
Early in its history, the museum was featured on An American Moment
.
in Bellingham. KMRE-LP focuses on showcasing The American Museum of Radio and Electricity’s vast and diverse media collection featuring music from the earliest cylinder recordings of 1888 through the Golden Age of Radio
. The station is also geared toward cultivating local programming that provides educational, cultural and historical value to its listeners. KMRE was granted it's license by the FCC on July 19, 2006.
This program is primarily housed at the Museum but also travels to deliver classes and demonstrations in communities around the region.
In 2009, the SPARK program served nearly 4,000 students.
Aside from normal operations, the museum utilizes its Tesla Performance Center to house various events.
Past events include:
The American Museum of Radio and Electricity is an interactive museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
located in Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham, Washington
Bellingham is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the twelfth-largest city in the state. Situated on Bellingham Bay, Bellingham is protected by Lummi Island, Portage Island, and the Lummi Peninsula, and opens onto the Strait of Georgia...
, which offers educational experiences for audiences of all ages through galleries and public programs that illustrate the development and use of electricity, radio and the related inventions that changed the course of human history. The museum features a collection of artifacts showcasing four centuries of human innovation from 1580 into the 1950s.
Museum History
The museum began in 1985 as an informal collection of radio setReceiver (radio)
A radio receiver converts signals from a radio antenna to a usable form. It uses electronic filters to separate a wanted radio frequency signal from all other signals, the electronic amplifier increases the level suitable for further processing, and finally recovers the desired information through...
s, spare parts
Electronic component
An electronic component is a basic electronic element and may be available in a discrete form having two or more electrical terminals . These are intended to be connected together, usually by soldering to a printed circuit board, in order to create an electronic circuit with a particular function...
, schematic
Schematic
A schematic diagram represents the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures. A schematic usually omits all details that are not relevant to the information the schematic is intended to convey, and may add unrealistic elements that aid comprehension...
s, recordings
History of sound recording
Methods and media for sound recording are varied and have undergone significant changes between the first time sound was actually recorded for later playback until now.- Acoustical recording :...
, and vintage magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s and manuals owned by a Bellingham resident, Jonathan Winter Winter's collection continued to grow, and by 1998, the Bellingham Antique Radio Museum was officially established, with the more than 800 radio sets from Winter's collection forming the core of the museum's collection.
The museum took on its present name in 2001 when it moved into its 23000 square feet (2,136.8 m²) facilitiy and John Jenkins, a former sales and marketing manager at Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, retired and became co-curator of the museum. Jenkins added his collection to the museum, which included early wireless and electrical devices, and rare books with first editions dating back to 1560
1560 in literature
-Births:*January 3 - John Bois, Bible translator *October 10 - Jacobus Arminius, theologian *December 3 - Jan Gruter, critic and scholar *date unknown - Constantino Cajetan, ecclesiastical historian -Deaths:...
and written by
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...
,
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
,
C. F. du Fay
C. F. du Fay
Charles François de Cisternay du Fay was a French chemist and superintendent of the Jardin du Roi.He discovered the existence of two types of electricity and named them "vitreous" and "resinous"...
,
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
,
Luigi Galvani
Luigi Galvani
Luigi Aloisio Galvani was an Italian physician and physicist who lived and died in Bologna. In 1791, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs legs twitched when struck by a spark...
,
William Gilbert,
Joseph Henry
Joseph Henry
Joseph Henry was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as a founding member of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. During his lifetime, he was highly regarded...
,
Heinrich Hertz,
James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory...
,
Pieter van Musschenbroek
Pieter van Musschenbroek
Pieter van Musschenbroek was a Dutch scientist. He was a professor in Duisburg, Utrecht, and Leiden, where he held positions in mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and astrology. He is credited with the invention of the first capacitor in 1746: the Leyden jar. He performed pioneering work on the...
,
Georg Ohm
Georg Ohm
Georg Simon Ohm was a German physicist. As a high school teacher, Ohm began his research with the recently-invented electrochemical cell, invented by Italian Count Alessandro Volta. Using equipment of his own creation, Ohm determined that there is a direct proportionality between the potential...
,
Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, an important aspect of electromagnetism...
,
Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Volta
Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta was a Lombard physicist known especially for the invention of the battery in 1800.-Early life and works:...
,
among others.
An American Moment
An American Moment was a widely acclaimed syndicated program, created by James R. Kirk and Neal Spelce.The show consisted of 90-second vignettes that focused on "small town America" and overlooked news stories...
.
Collections
- Dawn of the Electrical Age (1600–1800)
- Electricity Sparks Invention (1800–1900)
- The Beginning of Radio and the Wireless Era (1863–1920)
- Radio Enters the Home (1920–1927)
- The Golden Age of Radio (1928–1950)
Notable Exhibits
Exhibits include:- a reproduction of the radio room of the Titanic complete with original MarconiMarconi CompanyThe Marconi Company Ltd. was founded by Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 as The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company...
wireless apparatus - a working 19291929 in music-Events:*January 1 – Pianist and composer Abram Chasins makes his professional debut playing his own piano concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra.*January 11 – Karol Szymanowski's Stabat Mater is premiered....
thereminThereminThe theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
that visitors can play (RCA Theremin Model AR 1264, No. 200085) - a complete collection of Atwater KentA. Atwater KentArthur Atwater Kent, Sr. was an inventor and prominent radio manufacturer based in Philadelphia, usa. In 1921, he patented the modern form of the automobile ignition coil.-Biography:...
"breadboard" radios - a collection of more than 10,000 vacuum tubeVacuum tubeIn electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
s - one of the largest collections of 19th century electromagnetic apparatus in the country, including early telegraph, telephoneTelephoneThe telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
, electric motorElectric motorAn electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
s, dynamoDynamo- Engineering :* Dynamo, a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator* Dynamo theory, a theory relating to magnetic fields of celestial bodies* Solar dynamo, the physical process that generates the Sun's magnetic field- Software :...
s and induction coilInduction coilAn induction coil or "spark coil" is a type of disruptive discharge coil. It is a type of electrical transformer used to produce high-voltage pulses from a low-voltage direct current supply...
s - a collection of electric lighting and related apparatus, including several lamps from the laboratory of Thomas EdisonThomas EdisonThomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
. - Demonstration Tesla coilsTesla coilA Tesla coil is a type of resonant transformer circuit invented by Nikola Tesla around 1891. It is used to produce high voltage, low current, high frequency alternating current electricity. Tesla coils produce higher current than the other source of high voltage discharges, electrostatic machines...
- a Collins 1909 wireless telephone
- a 1930s living room diorama
- a static electricity learning center
- a working RCA CT-100Ct-100For the Bajaj motorcycle, see Bajaj CT 100Introduced in April 1954 the RCA CT-100 was the second all-electronic consumer color television set in the USA, preceeded by the Westinghouse H840CK15 by a few weeks. The color picture tube measured 15 inches diagonally. The viewable picture was just...
Television - a 1915 telephone used by Henry L. HigginsonHenry Lee HigginsonHenry Lee Higginson was a noted American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.-Family and Early Life:...
in the first transcontinental telephone call.
Radio station
The museum operates the low-power radio station KMRE-LPKMRE-LP
KMRE-LP is a radio station broadcasting historical, educational, cultural and local programming. The station is licensed to, and broadcast from the American Museum of Radio And Electricity in Bellingham, Washington....
in Bellingham. KMRE-LP focuses on showcasing The American Museum of Radio and Electricity’s vast and diverse media collection featuring music from the earliest cylinder recordings of 1888 through the Golden Age of Radio
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
. The station is also geared toward cultivating local programming that provides educational, cultural and historical value to its listeners. KMRE was granted it's license by the FCC on July 19, 2006.
SPARK Science Education Program
The Museums education program has three main initiatives:- Outreach Program - Operating throughout Western Washington, the outreach program works directly with public schools, private schools and home-school networks to offer assemblies, in class science courses and special focus tours. Programs are available at the Museum or on-site at the school, this program gives educators great resources to augment their regular science curriculum. The Museum is on track to serve over 5,000 students in 2008. The program adheres to the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) for Washington State.
- Community Education Program - Through the Museum's regular Science Saturday classes, summer camps, lectures and special events this program offers exciting hands-on classes, tours and exhibits to the community at large focusing on the process of innovation, invention and the core facets of radio, electricity and physics. The Museums Science Saturday classes are geared for children ages 8 to 14. The hands-on classes include topics such as static electricityStatic electricityStatic electricity refers to the build-up of electric charge on the surface of objects. The static charges remain on an object until they either bleed off to ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge. Static electricity can be contrasted with current electricity, which can be delivered...
, magnetismMagnetismMagnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...
, motorsElectric motorAn electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...
, circuitElectronic circuitAn electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow...
s, and crystal radios.
This program is primarily housed at the Museum but also travels to deliver classes and demonstrations in communities around the region.
- Educator Program - Working directly with educators, the Museum offers special courses to increase grade school teachers’ comfort and proficiency in teaching science. Teacher’s taking part in this program receive continued education credits (clock hours) to fulfill key professional development goals.
In 2009, the SPARK program served nearly 4,000 students.
Events
Past events include:
- The Chuckanut Radio Hour
- Midnight Mystery Players
- Art Of Jazz Series
- Sustainable Connections
- Linuxfest NorthwestLinuxfest NorthwestLinuxFest Northwest is an annual technology conference and expo held in Bellingham, Washington. It is a Saturday and Sunday weekend event held in late April...
- Bellingham Robot Festival
See also
- 20th Century Technology Museum20th Century Technology MuseumThe 20th Century Technology Museum is located in Wharton, Texas, and displays examples of technology from the 20th century. The museum is a non-profit organization and opened its gallery in July 2005 on the first floor of the former Wharton County Jail, which was constructed in 1888.The museum's...
- Museum of Radio and TechnologyMuseum of Radio and TechnologyThe Museum of Radio and Technology, located on the western fringes of Ritter Park in Huntington, West Virginia, offers numerous displays and exhibits. It is the only such museum of its type within the state...
- Museum of Broadcast CommunicationsMuseum of Broadcast CommunicationsThe Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
- National Radio Hall of Fame
Further reading
- Loud Talker: The Early History of Loudspeakers by John D. Jenkins (2008 ISBN 978-0-9794569-1-6)
- Where Discovery Sparks Imagination by John D. Jenkins ( ISBN 978-0-9794569-0-9)