Museum Wants 'Brick' Mobile Phones

MARCH 11 2010 UPDATE: MOSI HAS GOT IN TOUCH WITH US TO SAY THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS DONATED GADGETS BUT THEY NO LONGER NEED ANY MORE.

You might think that it's only old things which end up in museums, but have you ever thought that a museum might be interested in collecting things which YOU use in your everyday life?

The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester,aka MOSI, is on the lookout for some gadgets from the recent past for its new 'Manchester Communicates' gallery, which is due to open in October.

The new gallery will tell the story of human communication, from signs and gestures to modern technology such as mobile phones and texting.

This telephone might look old to us - but when it was new it was the latest hi-tech gadget!

Photo: Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester

The museum would like to hear from anyone in the local area who has a big old mobile phone - the type known as a 'brick', because when mobile phones were first invented they were big and heavy - like a brick!

The Museum's Curator of Science, Jenny Wetton, says, “People tend to think that museums are just full of really old stuff, but if you really think about how quickly communications technology is developing, even items that are just a few years old have been superceded.” (She means replaced.)

She went on, “Some of these items are design classics, so we want to make sure that they are properly recognised.”

No - this isn't really a fossilised phone, but who know what archaeologists will dig up in hundreds of years' time?!

Photo: 'Future Fossil', Alan Rossiter. Courtesy of the Visions of Science Photographic Awards.

Here's list of more things from the 1980s and 1990s which the museum is really interested in collecting:

Nokia 3210 mobile phone
Daisy wheel or dot matrix printer
1980s 'brick' mobile phone
1980s scanner
Electronic typewriter
Kurzweil reading machine
An 'in use' laptop
Laser or inkjet printer

Anyone who has one of these items should call 0161 606 0119 or email: collections@msim.org.uk

This is a mobile phone designed by Marc Newson, made by Talby in 2004 and exhibited at the Design Museum in London.

Photo: The Design Museum

Find out more about the history of radio, telephones, fax machines and satellites and how they work at the Connected Earth website, and at these great museums:

Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, Cornwall
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum, Cornwall
Amberley Working Museum, West Sussex
Milton Keynes Museum, Buckinghamshire
The Museum of London
The Science Museum, London
BT Group Archives, London
Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, West Midlands
The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
The Royal Museum, Edinburgh

The past is calling at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh!

Photo: National Museums Scotland

Other museums where you can see recent inventions include:

The Design Museum, London
The Museum of Computing, Swindon, Wiltshire
The Computer Museum at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire
The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, Yorkshire

So - if you were in charge of a museum, what would you collect? Really old things,or items from 21st century life? Let us know by visiting our Get In Touch page - we'd love to hear from you!