The Library of Congress

Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress, 1862-1939

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The documents included in the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers span from 1862 to 1939, with the bulk of the papers being from the years 1865 to 1920. The central focus of the collection is on the Development of the Industrial United States (1876-1915) and the Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930). Working with documents in the collection, students have the opportunity to examine the impact of technological change and the indomitable spirit of one of the leading scientists and inventors of the era. The family correspondence provides insights into Bell’s personality and perseverance, and into the social history of the time.

1) Bell: A Man of Broad Knowledge

Bell’s journals and correspondence reveal his interest in an array of subjects. Although his paramount interest was in the sciences, Bell had a keen mind and sense of curiosity that prohibited him from focusing on only one subject. Have students browse the Subject Index to see the great array of topics about which Bell wrote. For example, in a letter to Miss Mabel Hubbard, Bell expressed his emotions, his poetic facility with language, and his love of nature.

Likewise, in a letter to his parents, Bell shows his concern over the intolerance of the general public regarding Charles Darwin’s research, "I cannot understand the prejudice with which many people view an honest and hard-working investigator like Darwin."

Letter from Alexander Graham Bell to Alexander Melville Bell, Eliza Symonds Bell, Carrie Bell, January 27, 1873

Bell would often host discussions, inviting prominent individuals to present papers on a variety of topics. In his 1902 journal Bell wrote, "Last Wednesday, April 2, we had up for discussion the subject of the relation of capital and labor" and noted that 28 gentlemen and 4 ladies attended. He was so impressed by the paper presented by Mr. Friedman that he had it entered in its entirety as an appendix in his 1902 journal. The 1902 journal also includes topics as varied as Stonehenge and efforts to provide an early form of air-cooling for patrons attending the St. Louis World’s Fair. Search Journal by Alexander Graham Bell 1901 to find the 1901 and 1902 journals.

• How might Bell's interest in so many varied topics have influenced his study of science? How might his inventions have been influenced by his broad-based knowledge?
• After reading Bell's thoughts, do you have the sense that he was open-minded? Was he on the "cutting edge" of modern thought?
• Was Bell tolerant of other people's ideas and opinions?
• What else can you infer about Bell based on his letters and journals?
• How do the qualities and attitudes expressed in these writings relate to Bell's accomplishments and an inventor and scientist?

2) Assisting the Deaf: Visible Speech

Bell and his father, Alexander Melville Bell were innovators in the field of educating the deaf. Students can use the documents of Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers to learn about Visible Speech, a technique invented by Melville Bell. Search on visible speech to read the Bells' thoughts on this method of instruction and the evolving interest in and use of this technique.

Alexander Graham Bell to Alexander Melville Bell, April 15, 1871

Students will discover in the letters that Bell was not as totally committed to Visible Speech as was his father. In a letter to Gardiner Greene Hubbard, his future father-in-law, Bell confessed that he had some concerns with the system but explained that he felt the need to respect his father’s life-long commitment to the system.

• What were Bell's concerns with this method of instruction?
• What alternative approaches and improvements did he suggest?
• How might this critical thinking have helped Bell in his later accomplishments?

Students can research what techniques are used today in educating the deaf.

• Is there still a need for visible speech?
• Has this technique been out-moded?
• How have advances in technology changed life for the deaf?
• Students can continue their consideration of inventions by discussing what inventions they have seen come and go in their life time? What factors contribute to the replacement of one technology with another?

Helen Keller, a deaf and blind girl, met Bell at the age of six after her family sought Bell's advice regarding her education. He led them to Miss Annie Sullivan who taught Helen to communicate. Search on Helen Keller for Bell’s correspondence with the student and her teacher. In his letter of May 2, 1888, Bell wrote to thank "My dear little Helen" for the letter she had written him. Bell expressed a great interest in Helen Keller’s accomplishments.

• How did Sullivan work with Helen Keller?
• What did Keller express to Bell in her letters?
• Later in life, what request did Keller make of Bell?

3) Communication Technology

Of his many inventions, Bell is primarily noted for his invention of the telephone. He began his experiments in an attempt to improve the telegraph that depended on using Morse code to communicate. Bell’s knowledge of the nature of sound from his work with the deaf and his love and understanding of music convinced him that multiple messages could be sent simultaneously over the same telegraph line. Have students search on harmonic telegraph for information on his early experiments in improving the use of the telegraph.

In a letter to his parents, Bell writes of an offer to finance his work on a "multiple telegraph". Prominent Boston attorney Gardner Green Hubbard, his backer and future father-in-law, resented Western Union’s monopoly and was willing to provide funds and connections to support Bell’s research. Have students conduct outside research on Western Union to understand the role this company played in America at the time. In addition, students can use Bell's experience with financing his work to understand the importance of funding to invention and its influence on research.

• How might the source of funding for a project influence what a researcher decides to study?
• How might the funding source effect what results a researcher pursues?
• What can be done to keep the research objective while accepting the funding?
• Why might it be important to disclose funding sources with the results of research? What might citizens surmise from knowing who funded the project?

While Hubbard urged Bell to spend more time on the invention, Bell and Thomas Watson, a young electrician he had hired, had diverted their attention to the telephone. One can get a sense of the excitement and significance of the invention from a letter written on March 10, 1876, in which the 29-year-old Bell tells his father of the success of the telephone. He recorded a sketch of his invention along with the famous utterance to Mr. Watson in his 1876 notebook. Search on telephone to find these and other documents.

Bell’s further experimentation to perfect the telephone is included in his Experimental Note Book, Volume VII. Search Journal by Alexander Graham Bell, November 25, 1887.

[Alexander Graham Bell's notebook entry of 10 March 1876 describes his successful experiment with the telephone.]

Bell did not feel that his work on the telephone had progressed to the stage where he could demonstrate it at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. However, Hubbard and his daughter insisted and Bell agreed to display the telephone. Students can research the significance of this exhibition and other World's Fairs in outside resources. They can look for the impact of these exhibits on visitors and society at large. What hopes were associated with these exhibits? What did they represent to society? Available online resources include:

• The Columbian Exposition
• The Iconography of Hope: The 1939-40 New York World's Fair
• Dissemination of Order in Chicago's Century of Progress

With inventions comes the issue of patents. Search Elisha Gray for over 50 hits chronicling Bell’s patent conflicts with Gray and Western Union over issues relating to the invention of the telephone. Students can use these papers to learn how inventions are protected and how one proves their right to patent an invention. Circulars, from December 20, 1878, to May 23, 1879 provides a synopsis of the patent disputes.

Having studied the thought and experimentation that went into the invention of the telephone, students can now begin an informed discussion of this invention's impact on society.

• Start by thinking of ways in which the telephone is used in our daily lives. What other technology do we use that is dependent on the telephone?
• Then have students consider how the phone changed society. What did it mean to have information travel so quickly among people? What disasters could be avoided? What opportunities were created? Can students imagine going one day without using the telephone or information received by phone?
• Have students research the way the phone became integrated into society. What was the progression of adaptation of the phone into daily life from the introduction of the phone to modern usage? Who had access at first? Where were phone lines installed? In addition, students can search on Bell Telephone Company and American Telephone & Telegraph to learn of the early history of these companies.

4) Tetrahedral Construction and Aviation

Writing of Bell’s many inventions, Mabel Hubbard Bell wrote in her notes of 1907, "Now of all these inventions I am especially interested just now in Mr. Bell's Tetrahedral Construction System. . . . ". Search Tetrahedral for additional references to Bell’s experiments with kites and aviation. Mrs. Bell recognized that her husband’s work with tetrahedral construction had a wider application than merely to flight, ". . . it is also applicable to the construction of towers, bridges etc., of steel and iron and of various other structures of wood. I believe its possible use in these various other ways is very great, and well worthy of being developed to the benefit of the public and incidentally of course to the credit of Mr. Bell its inventor." She was so convinced of its impact on society that she put up her own money for its commercial use. Students can use the materials in the collection to study the many applications of this invention.

From Journal by Alexander Graham Bell, from July 19, 1901, to August 31, 1901.

Search Journal by Alexander Graham Bell 1901 to find the 1901 and 1902 journals which deal primarily with aeronautical subjects.

• What was the history of flight at the time of Bell's experimentation?
• How was he improving upon previous work?
• From reading Bell's notebooks, can students see where we use Bell's inventions today?

5) The Victorian Era: A Social History

The personal letters in Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers provide students with the opportunity to examine the personal beliefs and attitudes of Bell and members of his immediate family. From this information, students can also gain insight into aspects of the social history of the Victorian Era.

Students can browse the Family Papers series. They will find such items as the earliest record in this collection: a letter from Alexander Melville Bell to his son who has left home in Scotland to assist his grandfather in London. The letter instructs Aleck, a 15-year-old, on proper behavior and reveals the senior Bell’s concern for his young son away from home for the first time. Letters, dated March 2, 1863 and March 2, 1864, pour out a father’s love for his son as he celebrates his 16^th and 17^th birthdays away from home. In 1870, Bell received a letter informing him of his brother’s death from tuberculosis. In this poignant letter, Alexander Melville Bell, urges his son to take care of himself.

• How was young Bell expected to behave away from home? What social values are reflected in his fathers' instructions?
• What responsibilities did Bell have to his family, especially after the death of his brother?
• What topics did the family discuss? What were their major concerns? What did they celebrate?

Letter from Alexander Melville Bell to Alexander Graham Bell, October 10, 1862

6) Women's Rights

A year before his marriage, Bell wrote Mabel, "I never suspected that you were one of these people who think women have rights". A careful analysis of the letter reveals that he was attempting to stimulate a discussion on the topic rather than assert male supremacy. The letter did provoke Mabel’s response. Search women’s rights for the exchange of letters on the subject.

• From the letters, can you determine what Bell's true views of women's rights were? Do his views reflect common thought on women's rights at that time?
• What does Bell's town suggest about his attitude to women's rights and his relationship with his wife?
• What sense do you have of the depth of the relationship between Bell and Mabel? Was this typical of most married couples of that era?
• What other topics do they discuss? What other values of that time period do they reflect in their correspondence?

Letter from Alexander Graham Bell to Mabel Hubbard Bell, October 18, 1875