The collector: John Jenkins, President and CEO of the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, Bellingham, Washington. 

John worked for Hewlett Packard for 12 years and Microsoft for 15, most recently as General Manager of Worldwide OEM Sales and Marketing. He retired from Microsoft in 2001 and now serves on several boards and is a member of professional associations including the History of Science Society. In his free time John lectures and writes on topics related to the history of technology.

The collection: Early radio and scientific apparatus. Artefacts and books beginning in the 16th century with the earliest investigations into electricity, and following a thread of discovery including the electrochemical battery, electromagnetism, the telegraph and telephone, electric light, and ultimately leading to the development of wireless telephony, more commonly known as radio.

The story behind the collection

My interest in electricity started when I was very young. My father was an industrial electrician and with two older brothers, I was “exposed” to electricity projects and experiments from the time I was in diapers. Those projects quickly switched to radio when I discovered my great-uncle’s long-abandoned radio correspondence course gathering dust in the basement. Before long, I was making weekly trips to the local dump to find discarded radios that I could either repair or cannibalize for parts. When I was thirteen, I built a local telephone network to connect the houses of my friends, using modified table radios as amplifiers. By that time I also had a small neighborhood radio repair business, operating it from that same dusty corner of my parents’ basement.

About that time, I discovered a 1927 radio stored in my grandmother’s home. I got it to work and from that moment, I was hooked on antique radios and other interesting objects related to the history of electricity. During the next 45 years, I collected thousands of objects that depict the scientific exploration of electricity from 1600 forward, as well as the early years of radio. There are many artifacts from the laboratories of the early pioneers of electricity, plus rare radios, speakers, and related apparatus from the beginnings of the broadcast era. Among the most exciting components of my collection are original books and scientific papers that chronicle crucial milestones in the development of radio and electricity, by authors such as Gilbert, Galileo, Benjamin Franklin, Volta, Hertz, and Marconi.

I am in awe of the ability of mankind to observe such  a complex natural force, study it thoroughly, and use that knowledge to develop practical solutions to everyday problems. One of the important things I have learned is that invention is a process, not an event.  In school we are taught that Morse invented the telegraph, Bell invented the telephone, Edison invented the light bulb, etc. But more often than not, inventions are born of a complex process involving many individuals over many years, not a simple happy accident or flash of brilliance. I want to reveal this process through an incredible collection of artifacts, representing every stage in the evolution of electrical knowledge. My displays at the Museum are arranged so that visitors can follow the thread of discovery and invention all the way from Franklin to the invention of radio and television

I began collecting old radios when I was 13, 45 years ago.  Later I became interested in the linkages between electrical inventions, that is, invention as a process vs. an event.  This led me to earlier electrical objects. Today I have one of the largest collections of early electrical apparatus in private hands, the exact count isn't known, but it numbers in the tens of thousands.

The majority of the important and interesting objects in my collection are on display at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity in Bellingham, Wa.

I am frequently asked to name my favourite piece.  While I suppose there are some artifacts I could pick out (The first successful Edison electric lamp, the Collins Wireless Telephone, the telephone used by Alexander Graham Bell in the first transcontinental telephone call, etc) I think choosing one or two artifacts misses the point.  What makes the collection unique is not only does it contain many very historically important artifacts,  but the breadth of the collection,  and its ability to use that breadth to tell the story of invention.   At the Museum we like to say that we "display the inventions and innovations that changed the course of human history".  

The collection is pretty complete.  I no longer actively look for additions. That said, I'd love to have one of the Microphones used by Franklin Roosevelt in his "Fireside Chats."

There has always been a pretty well defined plan for what I added to the collection, rather than just buying every electrical object I could find. Even when I was actively collecting I didn't spend more than an hour or so a week looking for items online.  Today when I do purchase something (which is rare) it is usually something very special that has been offered by another collector or auction house.

VIEW JOHN'S DAWN OF ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT GALLERY >>

VIEW JOHN'S EARLY BEGINNINGS OF RADIO GALLERY >>

VIEW JOHN'S HORN LOUDSPEAKERS GALLERY >>

John's  personal website: www.sparkmuseum.com

The Museum's website: www.amre.us

John is the author of "Where Discovery Sparks Imagination - A Pictorial History of Radio and Electricity" and “Loud Talker - The Early History of Loudspeakers”.

All images used with the kind permission of John Jenkins.