Today it is a truism to contend that networks become more useful as they
expand. We even have a phrase for it: “network effects.” The early
history of the telegraph and telephone network in the United States
raises questions about this common assertion. In the period before 1900,
telegraph and telephone managers had good reason to keep their networks
small and to define access narrowly. In his presentation,
communications historian Richard R. John explains why telegraph and
telephone managers changed their minds, hastening the popularization of
the electrical communications networks that have become a hallmark of
modernity. To document this transformation, John analyzes a variety of
oft-neglected visual materials that includes satirical cartoons,
newspaper advertisements, and magazine covers. His presentation
re-envisions from the standpoint of media theory certain themes that he
explored in his prize-winning monograph, Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications (2010).
Richard R. John is professor at the Columbia Journalism
School at Columbia University, where he teaches the history of
communications in Columbia’s Ph. D. program in communications. He is
the author of Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse (1995) and Network Nation: Inventing American Telecommunications (2010).
