Instructions for use
Select an object to view from the list below. To rotate either click on the rotate icon located in the bottom right hand corner of the image or click and drag within the object window.
Experimental notebook, 1896 - 1897
Early telephone directory
Post Office Telephones advertising material, 1930s
Phonecards, 1990s
National Telephone Company Midland province, staff dinner programme
Liverpool scrapbook
Model vans
Photograph albums, 1911 and 1932
London telephone directories
Bell's Telephone, edited by Kate Field
Victorian marketing
Shareholder register
Phonecards were first introduced in 1981. They allowed payphone users to make calls without cash, and were introduced partly to combat damage caused by vandals attempting to break into payphone coin boxes. Phonecards were extremely popular, and special editions quickly became collectors items. Sales of phonecards peaked in 1990/91 until, after a significant decline following the wider availability of mobile phones, they were finally withdrawn from sale in October 2002.