Connected Earth
Encyclopedia
Connected Earth is a UK network of organisations, primarily museums, that preserve the history of telecommunications in the UK. Heritage artefacts 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.
, Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings
, BT Archives
, Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station
, Milton Keynes Museum
, Museum of London
, Museum of Science and Industry Manchester (MoSI)
, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum
, National Museums of Scotland
, the Science Museum
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.
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.
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 and increasingly accessible.Partners
The Connected Earth partners are Amberley Museum and Heritage CentreAmberley Working Museum
Amberley Museum & Heritage Centre is a museum at Amberley, near Arundel in West Sussex, England.The museum was founded in 1979 by the Southern Industrial History Centre Trust and has previously been known as the Amberley Working Museum, Amberley Chalk Pits Museum or plain Amberley Museum.The museum...
, Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings
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 conceived following the dismantling of a 15th-century...
, BT Archives
BT Archives
BT Archives is an archive preserving the documentary heritage of 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 privatisation in 1984....
, Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station
Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station
Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station is a large telecommunications site located on Goonhilly Downs near Helston on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, England, UK. Owned by BT Group plc, it was at one time the largest satellite earth station in the world, with more than 25 communications dishes in use...
, Milton Keynes Museum
Milton Keynes Museum
Milton Keynes Museum is an independent local museum in the parish of Wolverton and Greenleys in Milton Keynes, England. It is mostly run by volunteers with a small number of paid staff.The museum is housed in a former Victorian farmstead....
, Museum of London
Museum of London
The Museum of London documents the history of London from the Prehistoric to the present day. The museum is located close to the Barbican Centre, as part of the striking Barbican complex of buildings created in the 1960s and 70s as an innovative approach to re-development within a bomb damaged...
, Museum of Science and Industry Manchester (MoSI)
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, England, is a large museum devoted to the development of science, technology, and industry with emphasis on the city's achievements in these fields...
, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum
The Porthcurno Telegraph Museum is a museum located in the small coastal village of Porthcurno Cornwall, UK. Porthcurno was the point at which many submarine telegraph cables—transatlantic and to other locations—came ashore...
, National Museums of Scotland
National Museums of Scotland
National Museums Scotland is the organization that runs several national museums of Scotland. It is one of the country's National Collections, and holds internationally important collections of natural sciences, decorative arts, world cultures, science and technology, and Scottish history and...
, the Science Museum
Science Museum (London)
The Science Museum is one of the three major museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. The museum is a major London tourist attraction....
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.