A new exhibition at San Francisco International Airport’s SFO Museum will showcase a collection of telephones spanning from the late 1800s to the 1990s. The display includes Art Deco models, payphones, Picturephones from the 1960s, and a prototype Touch-Tone telephone from 1958.
The exhibition highlights the development of telephone technology, starting with Alexander Graham Bell’s patent on March 7, 1876, for an “apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically.” After obtaining this patent, Bell and his assistant Thomas A. Watson succeeded in sending their first message using a liquid transmitter, leading to the famous words: “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” Over time, telephone technology advanced rapidly. By January 25, 1915, transcontinental service began. Early phones required operator assistance to connect calls until rotary dialing became common in the 1930s.
The exhibition aims to remind visitors how revolutionary these technologies were in their time. Landline telephones converted voices into electrical signals that traveled through wires and were then turned back into sound at the receiving end. Early designs included large wooden wall-mounted phones and candlestick desk sets before evolving into rotary dial handsets.
Many aspects of past phone use—such as calling operators or using printed directories—now evoke nostalgia in an era dominated by mobile phones.
The SFO Museum exhibition was made possible through a loan from the JKL Museum of Telephony. Special recognition is given to JKL curator Remco Enthoven for contributions to this project.
SFO Museum was established by the San Francisco Airport Commission in 1980 with a mission “to delight, engage, and inspire a global audience with programming on a broad range of subjects; to collect, preserve, interpret, and share the history of commercial aviation; and to enrich the public experience at San Francisco International Airport.” The museum has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 1999 and is noted as being the only accredited museum located within an airport.
Operating more than twenty-five sites throughout airport terminals—including fourteen galleries—the museum offers rotating exhibitions on art, history, photography, science, and culture. Its permanent collection holds over 160,000 objects related to commercial aviation history.
The telephone retrospective will be open post-security in Terminal 2 from August 30, 2025 through August 16, 2026 for ticketed passengers or by prior arrangement via email.
