Temporary exhibitions

Women in communication

The Technological Revolution, Great Military Conflicts and Developing Emancipation Currents have completely changed the status and social role of women. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century inventions, such as telegraph and telephone, created the perfect basis for the creation of new jobs, which were quickly dominated by the masses of ladies. The Museum of Post and Telecommunications in Wroclaw invites you to a unique exhibition: “Women in communication”, prepared on the occasion of the Year of Women’s Rights established by the Sejm. As part of the temporary exposure, unpublished archival photographs will be presented, showing postal workers and unique examples of telecommunications facilities such as telephones, teletype or switchboards from the collection of the Post and Telecommunications Museum in Wrocław and a private collection. The exhibition, whose protagonists are telegraphers, juzists, telephonists and postal workers, is an attempt to look at the history of women both in the context of their extraordinary and interesting professional activity as well as technological development, which completely changed the social, civilizational and cultural face of contemporary Europe.

Exhibition of one exhibit

ZB / SA 19 desk phone with a classic line, produced in 1919 by Simens & Halske, private collection of Michał Grzesik.

The base of the camera is made of metal, and in the rear part there are canopies of bells. Numeric metal shield – in the middle part of it there is an inscription: Städtisches Fernsprechamt Breslau “- Telefon Telefoniczne Wrocław”.

The abbreviation ZB (Zentralbaterie-Betrieb) means that the device was powered by a telephone network from a central battery. Therefore, neither a local battery nor a crank was needed to connect to the selected number.

On the other hand, SA (Selbst-Anschluss) is characteristic for models with a numerical dial, thanks to which it was possible to automatically connect with the telephone exchange.