Connected Earth is a UK network of organizations, primarily museums, that preserve the history of telecommunications in the UK. Heritage artifacts are physically dispersed to Connected Earth partners and other institutions as appropriate, and are brought together again online through virtual galleries, searchable catalogues and educational resources at its website.
Background
Connected Earth was founded by
BT in 2001 and grew from the company's solution to responsibly discharge its commitment to the UK's telecommunications heritage. By working with respected institutional partners and adopting modern communications technology the UK's telecommunications heritage is both assured for
future generations
Future generations are cohorts of hypothetical people not yet born. Future generations are contrasted with current and past generations, and evoked in order to encourage thinking about intergenerational equity. The moral patienthood of future g ...
and increasingly accessible.
Partners
The Connected Earth partners are
Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre,
Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings
Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings is an open-air museum of rescued buildings which have been relocated to its site in Stoke Heath, a district of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. Founded in 1963 and opened in 1967, the museum was conce ...
,
BT Archives
The BT Archives is an archive preserving the documentary heritage of the British telecoms company BT and its public sector predecessors. It is designated an official place of deposit for Public Records, for those records created prior to BT's p ...
,
Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station,
Milton Keynes Museum,
Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...
,
Museum of Science and Industry Manchester (MoSI),
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum,
National Museums of Scotland
National Museums Scotland (NMS; gd, Taighean-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland.
NMS is one of the country's National Collections, ...
, the
Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...
and the
Institute of Telecommunications Professionals.
Each partner focuses on a different aspect of telecommunications history. Five partners – Amberley, Avoncroft, Goonhilly, Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester and National Museum of Scotland – host dedicated Connected Earth galleries whilst others incorporate Connected Earth artefacts into their existing galleries.
Collecting
Together the Connected Earth partners tell the history of communications in the UK and from the UK to overseas. Through Connected Earth, artefacts as diverse as
Hughes printing telegraph, electrophone table, the tuning coil from Rugby radio station, telephone kiosks, the first transatlantic telegraph cable, are preserved and accessible for all.
Partners continue to collect contemporary communications artefacts and work with other organisations to ensure that the history of communications is preserved.
Through People's Connected Earth, partners also collect stories and memories from the general public and people who worked in the industry.
References
*British Telecommunications plc (2003) ''Project Profile and Review: Connected Earth The BT Heritage Project 2001-2003''
See also
*
BT Museum
External links
Connected Earth website
People's Connected Earth
{{BT Group
BT Group
History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom
Museums in the United Kingdom
Telecommunications museums
2001 establishments in the United Kingdom