Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company
Telegraph Key
1917
This Morse code device represents a time when Bolinas played an important role in world communication history. It was one of the telegraph keys used at the Bolinas Marconi transmission station that opened in Bolinas in 1914. Marconi station was transferred to Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1919, bringing a new wave of people to Bolinas including the Childers family who donated this key. The station brought cutting edge technology that allowed the first round-the-world wireless transmission–without undersea cables.
This gift is in memory of Clarence Edward Childers, born in 1918, the Chief Radioman, Navy WWII.