For some reason, this office layout has appealed to me. I don't know why, it certainly wouldn't be practical for my work ... but there it is.

Looks like a gas lamp; between that and the phone, this could be anytime between 1880s-1910s. I don't remember in which museum I found it.

I have used phones like the one here - service was cancelled in 1965. Spin the crank to get the operator's attention, tell her the number you want, and presto - there you go talking to someone down the street. I still have the phone I used but my father threw the guts away because they were too heavy - the guts being essentially a magneto generator that creates quite a spark. It now hangs neutered on my dining room wall.

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