Our latest “Document of the Week”, chosen by our Editorial Assistant, Chloe Haney, is an article from The Illustrated London News (ILN) titled “The Telephone”. Published on 15 December 1877, it reported on Alexander Graham Bell’s lecture to the Society of Arts, explaining his invention of the telephone.
10 March 2026 marks 150 years since the first time speech was transmitted successfully through the telephone. Famously, Bell communicated to his assistant, Thomas Watson, “Mr Watson, come here—I want to see you.”
In this article, published over a year after this historic event, the ILN provided its readers with detailed, technical explanations of the invention of the telephone. The article discussed the physical construction of the telephone, provided a scientific explanation of how it works, and touched on other scientific discoveries that facilitated its invention (such as the first production of an “undulatory current” by Hermann von Helmholtz).
The article centers around an illustration captioned “Professor Graham Bell’s Telephone”. Though this illustration aligns with the ILN’s distinctive visual style, matching the detail and accuracy of other ILN illustrations, its presentation is somewhat distinct. Each section of the illustration is numbered from figures one to six, and an explanation is given for the contents of each figure below the illustration. Reflecting the scientific and educational nature of the article, this illustration merges the paper’s iconic visual style with a more scholarly tone, which works to clarify the technical explanations given in the article.
Where to find this document
This document is from our collection, The Illustrated London News, 1842–2003. This comprehensive resource covers over 150 years, facilitating examination of an almost endless variety of historical events, concepts, and themes, British and otherwise. The extensive back catalogues of the ILN’s nine so-called “sister” titles are also available to explore on BOA’s digital archive. Visit the collection page to learn more.