Event Details

End: April 23, 2014
Contact: clockman@hagley.org
More Info: www.hagley.org/events.html

In a talk at Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware, Richard John will trace the story of how the telegraph and telephone transformed America by proving instantaneous communication between widely separated locations. Initially they were both specialty devices for elites, but after 1900 telephones became widely available for most Americans, and the objective of providing universal service became a guiding principle of American governments. John teaches in the Columbia University School of Journalism at Columbia University. Copies of his book, "Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications" will be available at the lecture.