First Floor Phones

Various generations of Morven residents would have witnessed the changing methods of communication over the centuries, including different styles of telephones. Several types were placed through the permanent exhibit to represent a typical telephone for the corresponding time period. Click each photo to learn more!

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Wooden wall set fiddle back, 1898.

Model 302 Phone. 1940s.

Model 500 Phone. 1955-1970s.

Pink Princess Phone, 1960s.

Wooden wall set fiddle back, 1898.

This fiddle back telephone represents what would have been the first telephone to be installed at Morven. An 1897 Delaware & Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone Company directory shows that Bayard Stockton could be reached here at the number “8.” He was one of five subscribers listed in Princeton at the time. Local operators Mabel Stillwell and Rose Warren would have helped the Stocktons connect to other telephone subscribers around the turn of the century.

Note the crank on the side. At this time, in Princeton, it was still necessary to handcrank the phone in one’s home to generate enough power for a call.

Collection of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Model 302 Phone. 1940s.

This is the type of phone that the Johnson’s may have had during their tenure at Morven. Johnson’s legacy had its own impact on telephone communication development. In 1972, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gave a $15 million dollar grant to help make 911 connections available in rural areas. The 911 line was established in 1968 by AT&T but it was not until 1973 that there was a national policy in the US.

Collection of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Model 500 Phone. 1955-1970s.

It is possible that this is the type of telephone that Governor Edge would have used at Morven. It was a standard desk set, designed by Robert Hose and noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss for Western Electric.

During the Hughes administration, a team of 555 AT&T employees came to the rescue to provide ramped up communications for press and government officials for the Glassboro Summit of 1967. Read more about the Summit when you visit Morven.

Collection of AT&T Archives and History Center.

Pink Princess Phone, 1960s.

Governors’ children may have used phones like this when talking on the phone at Morven. The Princess phone came in an array of colors and was designed by Henry Dreyfuss. Lift up the receiver to see the dial, which would have lit up when the phone was on.

Collection of Liza and Schuyler Morehouse.