New Collection at Salt Research: Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone Companies Archive
Bilinmeyen telefon numaraları servisi
SALT Araştırma, Posta, Telgraf ve Telefon Şirketleri Arşivi
SALT Araştırma, Posta, Telgraf ve Telefon Şirketleri Arşivi
SALT Research’s “City, Society, and Economy” collections comprise various documents on the built environment and social life in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic, as well as stories of individuals from the 19th century onwards. The newly-added Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone Companies Archive includes records on Dersaadet Telefon Anonim Şirketi [Ottoman Istanbul Telephone Limited Company] and İzmir ve Civarı Telefon Şirketi [Izmir and Vicinity Telephone Turkish Incorporated Company], providing information on telephone companies, users and workers, indicating the role of the telephone in daily life. Complemented by the telephone directories spanning from 1914 until 1982, the archive also entails other printed materials all of which can be accessed at SALT Research. The Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone Companies Archive constitutes a comprehensive database and insight into how telephone usage became widespread in Turkey.
An extensive library and an archive of physical and digital sources, SALT Research preserves knowledge by making it public and continues to grow its collections. The collections encompass more than 100,000 printed sources at SALT Research’s venue in SALT Galata, and over 1,900,000 unique digitized resources on “Art”, “Architecture and Design”, and “City, Society, and Economy” available via archives.saltresearch.org.
New Collection: About the “Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone Companies”
The telephone was introduced during the Ottoman Empire through a single telephone line that was installed between the Ministry of Postal Service and Telegraph in Soğukçeşme and Yeni Cami Post Office in 1881. Two other landlines were laid the same year: one connecting the post office in Galata Millet Han to Yeni Cami Post Office, and the other between the Ottoman Bank’s Head Office in Galata and its Bahçekapı branch. Through a sultan’s decree in 1886, all the other lines except the one between Galata Liman Dairesi [Galata Port Authority] and Kilyos Tahliye İdaresi [Kilyos Rescue Service] were removed for security purposes. The prohibition lasted until the restoration of parliamentary rule in 1908, which marked the Second Constitutional Era. Once the ban was lifted, the demand for telephones increased and a 50-line switchboard from France was placed at the Grand Post Office building in Sirkeci, which was still under construction at the time. Following the establishment of this telephone service, the organization was transformed into the Ministry of Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone, which came to be known as PTT. Initially accessible only to senior officers, it was not until 1911 that the public use of telephones were introduced. After being granted the concession to distribute telephones, British businessman Herbert Lows Webbe founded Dersaadet Telefon Anonim Şirketi Osmaniyesi [Ottoman Istanbul Telephone Limited Company] with investments by British, French, and American business people. Given the permission to use and run telephone exchanges and networks covering a large area from Yeşilköy to Rumeli Kavağı and from Pendik to Anadolu Kavağı, the company launched telephone exchanges in Tahtakale, Beyoğlu, and Kadıköy in 1914 with 9600, 6400, and 2000 lines respectively. By the time the company was taken over by Nafia Vekaleti [Ministry of Public Works] in 1935, the company had approximately 11,000 subscribers. İzmir ve Civarı Telefon Şirketi [Izmir and Vicinity Telephone Turkish Incorporated Company], founded by the Izmir Municipality and Ericsson Company in 1928, was also acquired by the state in 1938. From then on, all operations in this field were carried out by PTT.
An extensive library and an archive of physical and digital sources, SALT Research preserves knowledge by making it public and continues to grow its collections. The collections encompass more than 100,000 printed sources at SALT Research’s venue in SALT Galata, and over 1,900,000 unique digitized resources on “Art”, “Architecture and Design”, and “City, Society, and Economy” available via archives.saltresearch.org.
New Collection: About the “Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone Companies”
The telephone was introduced during the Ottoman Empire through a single telephone line that was installed between the Ministry of Postal Service and Telegraph in Soğukçeşme and Yeni Cami Post Office in 1881. Two other landlines were laid the same year: one connecting the post office in Galata Millet Han to Yeni Cami Post Office, and the other between the Ottoman Bank’s Head Office in Galata and its Bahçekapı branch. Through a sultan’s decree in 1886, all the other lines except the one between Galata Liman Dairesi [Galata Port Authority] and Kilyos Tahliye İdaresi [Kilyos Rescue Service] were removed for security purposes. The prohibition lasted until the restoration of parliamentary rule in 1908, which marked the Second Constitutional Era. Once the ban was lifted, the demand for telephones increased and a 50-line switchboard from France was placed at the Grand Post Office building in Sirkeci, which was still under construction at the time. Following the establishment of this telephone service, the organization was transformed into the Ministry of Postal Service, Telegraph and Telephone, which came to be known as PTT. Initially accessible only to senior officers, it was not until 1911 that the public use of telephones were introduced. After being granted the concession to distribute telephones, British businessman Herbert Lows Webbe founded Dersaadet Telefon Anonim Şirketi Osmaniyesi [Ottoman Istanbul Telephone Limited Company] with investments by British, French, and American business people. Given the permission to use and run telephone exchanges and networks covering a large area from Yeşilköy to Rumeli Kavağı and from Pendik to Anadolu Kavağı, the company launched telephone exchanges in Tahtakale, Beyoğlu, and Kadıköy in 1914 with 9600, 6400, and 2000 lines respectively. By the time the company was taken over by Nafia Vekaleti [Ministry of Public Works] in 1935, the company had approximately 11,000 subscribers. İzmir ve Civarı Telefon Şirketi [Izmir and Vicinity Telephone Turkish Incorporated Company], founded by the Izmir Municipality and Ericsson Company in 1928, was also acquired by the state in 1938. From then on, all operations in this field were carried out by PTT.
