Alexander Graham Bell collection, 1880-1925

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Summary

Abstract:
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was granted patents in 1874 on a multiple telegraph, invented the telephone (1875) and the photophone (1880). The collection consists of works by and about Alexander Graham Bell. Includes pamphlets, reprints, proceedings, portraits and geneological information compiled by Bell and others.
Extent:
0.5 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Alexander Graham Bell Collection (Collection 308). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of works by and about Alexander Graham Bell. Includes pamphlets, reprints, proceedings, portrait of Bell, Bell's letter to the Attorney General and one letter to Bell. Contains a first draft typescript of Catherine Mackenzie's book, Alexander Graham Bell (1928). Publications document Bell's experiments and interests in a variety of fields, including sheep breeding, eugenics, binaural audition, vocal physiology, aerial locomotion, and the telephone. Also includes geneological information compiled by Bell and others.

Biographical / historical:

Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland; attended Edinburgh University; became assistant in London to his father, who originated phonetic visible speech system for teaching the deaf; his father moved the family to Canada in 1870; from 1873-77 Bell served as a professor of vocal physiology at Boston University; he was granted patents in 1874 on a multiple telegraph for sending two or more messages simultaneously over the same wire; invented telephone, 1875; in 1880 he patented the photophone; his laboratory in Braddock Bay, Nova Scotia turned out hydrofoil speedboats and aerial locomotion by way of kites; Bell served Clarke School for the Deaf at Northampton, Massachusetts for 51 years as teacher, researcher and president of the board; founding member of the National Geographic Society in 1888, and president, 1898-1903; he died in Braddock Bay, August 2, 1922.

Processing information:

Processed by K. Lopaty, May 1975.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.

Arrangement:

Arranged in the following series:

  1. Bells of St. Andrews (genealogical).
  2. Letters.
  3. Catherine Mackenzie manuscript on Alexander Graham Bell.
  4. Material regarding Bell's experiments and inventions.

Physical location:
Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Alexander Graham Bell Collection (Collection 308). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website