Overview

This online version of the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers is a small but significant portion selected from the entire Bell Papers, which numbers over 145,000 items. This digitized selection, made up of 4,695 items (equaling about 51,500 images), consists of correspondence, scientific notebooks, journals, blueprints, articles, and photographs documenting Bell's invention of the telephone and his involvement in the first telephone company, his family life, his interest in the education of the deaf, and his aeronautical and other scientific research. Dates span from 1862 to 1939, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1865 to 1920. Included among Bell's papers are pages from his experimental notebook from March 10, 1876, describing the first successful experiment with the telephone, during which he spoke through the instrument to his assistant the famous words, "Mr. Watson--Come here--I want to see you." Bell's various roles in life as teacher, inventor, celebrity, and family man are covered extensively in his papers. Complementing the Bell Papers are digital images of photographs from the Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection in the Library's Prints and Photographs Division.

The Bell Family Papers is divided into several archival series, including Family Papers, General Correspondence, Subject File, Beinn Bhreagh Recorder, Laboratory Notebooks, Article File, and Speech File. The online presentation includes the following:

  • from the Family Papers, personal correspondence and papers of family members who were close to Bell and/or played significant roles in his life or work
  • from the General Correspondence, correspondence of well-known individuals and those who worked with Bell in significant ways
  • from the Subject File, those notes, journals, correspondence, blueprints, and other materials that cover the major subject areas of Bell's research, work, and interests
  • one representative volume from the Beinn Bhreagh Recorder series
  • two representative notebooks from the Laboratory Notebooks series
  • representative samples from the Article and Speech Files

Several factors defined the selection of Bell Papers for digitization. The collection as a whole includes the personal papers of not only Alexander Graham Bell but also those of his father, mother, wife, father-in-law, and other family members. Because the Bell Papers are so numerous and inclusive, navigation through them can be difficult. Therefore, one of the main objectives of the selection process was to identify those materials which mainly focused on Alexander Graham Bell and his work, varied interests, and achievements. Another important goal was to choose those materials that best offered a well-rounded portrayal of Bell--not only as an inventor and scientist but also as a teacher, husband, and father. Items were also selected if they appeared historically useful or significant, such as correspondence pertaining to the development of the Bell Telephone Company or Mabel Hubbard Bell's written accounts of her experiences growing up deaf.

The Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers were donated to the Library of Congress by his heirs in 1975. Prior to this donation, the papers were on deposit at the National Geographic Society, where they were organized and maintained. In order to make the collection easier to use, the Society prepared typed transcripts of a large portion of the handwritten letters. These valuable transcriptions were retained and have been reproduced here along with the original letters. Occasionally the original is missing and only the transcription is still available. One should keep in mind that these transcripts are now decades old and may occasionally be difficult to read due to faded, bleeding, or blurred text.

The Bell Papers contain a considerable amount of correspondence, much of which reflects the writing practices of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As letter writing becomes less popular, some awareness of common, older practices may be helpful. Since the typical handwritten letter is essentially a single sheet of paper folded in half (and usually written on all four sides), the digital scan and display of each unfolded sheet usually show an image of pages four and one (or back and front), and another of pages three and two (or the inside two pages). Example Today's readers also should be aware of such papers-saving tactics as writing-over, or text over text. In such cases, the writer would literally write over a completed page, making the added words somewhat readable by turning the page sideways and writing horizontally against what were now vertical written lines. Example Surprisingly, if the writer was careful and lengthened his or her hand while also trying to write only in the spaces between lines, such letters can be read with little difficulty.

Letter from Alexander Graham Bell to Mabel Hubbard Bell, November 19, 1876. Box 35, "Subject File: Bell, Mabel Hubbard--Family Correspondence--Bell, Alexander Graham, August-November 1876." Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

Example of a folded letter with pages one and four on one side and pages three and two on the other.

Related Resources

Select Bibliography

  • Boettinger, H. M. The Telephone Book: Bell, Watson, Vail, and American Life, 1876-1983. Revised Edition. New York: Stearn Publishers, 1983.
  • Brooks, John. Telephone: The First Hundred Years. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.
  • Bruce, Robert V. Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude. Boston: Little, Brown, 1973. Reprint, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.
  • Coe, Lewis. The Telephone and Its Several Inventors: A History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1995.
  • Eber, Dorothy Harley. Genius at Work: Images of Alexander Graham Bell. New York: Viking Press, 1982.
  • Fischer, Claude S. America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
  • Garnet, Robert W. The Telephone Enterprise: The Evolution of the Bell System's Horizontal Structure, 1876-1909. The Johns Hopkins/AT&T Series in Telephone History. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985.
  • Grosvenor, Edwin S. and Morgan Wesson. Alexander Graham Bell: The Life and Times of the Man Who Invented the Telephone. New York: Harry Abrams, 1997.
  • Mackenzie, Catherine Dunlop. Alexander Graham Bell, the Man Who Contracted Space. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1928. Reprint, Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.
  • Smith, George David. The Anatomy of a Business Strategy: Bell, Western Electric, and the Origins of the American Telephone Industry. The Johns Hopkins/AT&T Series in Telephone History. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985.
  • Watson, Thomas A. Exploring Life: The Autobiography of Thomas A. Watson. New York: Appleton, 1926.
  • Winefield, Richard. Never the Twain Shall Meet: Bell, Gallaudet, and the Communications Debate. Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet University Press, 1987.

Children's Books

  • Davidson, Margaret. The Story of Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor of the Telephone. Famous Lives. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1997.
  • Lamb, James Barrett. Alexander Graham Bell: Baddeck's Gentle Genius. Hantsport, Nova Scotia: Lancelot Press, 1990.
  • Matthews, Tom. The World and All That's In It: A Photobiography of Alexander Graham Bell. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1999.
  • Parker, Steve. Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone. Science Discoveries. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1995.
  • Pasachoff, Naomi E. Alexander Graham Bell: Making Connections. Oxford Portraits in Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
  • Pelta, Kathy. Alexander Graham Bell. Pioneers in Change. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1989.
  • St. George, Judith. Dear Dr. Bell -- Your Friend, Helen Keller. New York: Putnam's Sons, 1992.

Related Manuscript Collections in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Related Web Sites

The selected sites listed below all relate in some way to Alexander Graham Bell. The sites were chosen for their educational content and broad accessibility. The Library of Congress neither endorses nor maintains these Internet sites. Users should direct any problems with these sites to the particular administrator or webmaster responsible.

Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell and the Deaf

Web sites for Children

Other Web sites of Interest

Rights and Access

The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions.

With a few exceptions, the Library is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17, U.S.C.) or any other restrictions in the materials in the materials included in this online presentation. There may be content that is protected as "works for hire" (copyright may be held by the party that commissioned the original work) and/or under the copyright or neighboring-rights laws of other nations.

Note that the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers in the Library of Congress' Manuscript Division consists of personal papers and other manuscript materials. The Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection of Photographs of the Alexander Graham Bell Family in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress consists of photographs, negatives and related materials. The Library of Congress received both collections under an instrument of gift from the descendants of Alexander Graham Bell. This gift included all literary, publication, copyright, proprietary rights of Bell's descendants. Works created by persons outside the Bell family may in some cases be subject to copyright. In many of these cases, we were unable to identify a possible rightsholder and have elected to place some of those items online as an exercise of fair use for strictly non- commercial educational uses. Users are reminded that in all cases responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

This letter by Mark Twain is © 1999 by Richard A. Watson and Chase Manhattan Bank as Trustees of the Mark Twain Foundation, which reserves all reproduction or dramatization rights in every medium. It is published here with the permision of the University of California Press and Robert H. Hirst, General Editor of the Mark Twain Project.

Letter from Marie Curie to Alexander Graham Bell made available here with permission from Eve Labouisse-Curie, Helene Langevin, and Pierre Joliot. Musee Curie, 11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris, France. Email: cjc@curie.fr

Letters from William H. Forbes to Alexander Graham Bell made available here with permission from Beatrice Forbes Manz.

Correspondence from Elisha Gray to Alexander Graham Bell and specification by Elisha Gray made available here with permission from Elisha Gray III, 672 Maple Street, Winnetka, IL 60093, Michael Gray, and Gray Atkinson.

Letters and notes from John Hitz made available here with permission from Susan Hitz, 6 Rolling Knoll Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.

Correspondence from William James, Alice H. James, and Margaret M. James to Alexander Graham Bell made available here with permission from Bay James, 25 Plum Bush Downs, Newbury, Massachusetts 01951.

Correspondence and other writings from Helen Keller made available here with permission from the American Federation for the Blind, Helen Keller Archives.

Letter from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to Mabel Hubbard Bell made available here with permission from Frances Wetherell.

Correspondence from Guglielmo Marconi to Alexander Graham Bell made available here with permission from Francesco Marconi Paresce, 6 Ohm Strasse, Munich 80802, Germany. Email: fparesce@eso.org

Correspondence and notes from Arthur W. McCurdy and J.A.D. McCurdy made available here with permission from Mrs. M.J. McCurdy, 3 Av Forden, Montreal, PQ, H3Y 2Y6, Canada.

Correspondence from John D. Philbrick, Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, made available here with permission from Boston Public Schools. Office of Legal Advisor, Central Administration Building, 26 Court Street, Boston, MA 02108.

Correspondence from Laura C. Redden to Alexander Graham Bell made available here with permission from Judge Thomas McGinn Smith, 777 Marshall Street, Redwood City, CA 94063. Email: Lehuaofca@aol.com

Correspondence, drawings, and script from and by Thomas A. Watson made available here with permission from Susan Cheever.

Letter from H.G. Wells to Alexander Graham Bell made available here with permission from A.P. Watt Ltd. on behalf of the Trustees of the Estate of H.G. Wells, 20 John Street, London WC1N 2DR United Kingdom.

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division [unless other division is identified with particular item]

For guidance about compiling full citations, consult Citing Electronic Resources on the learning page.

More information about American Memory and Copyright.