Encyclopedia Trinitiana

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{{tag>organizations students}}

====== Telegraph Clubs ======
Like students today, the students of the past interested in new technology found ways to implement, learn, and experiment with new and upcoming technologies. Telegraph clubs were organized by students interested in telegraphy, the device or system that allows the transmission of information by coded signal over distance. (([[https://www.britannica.com/technology/telegraph|Encyclopedia Britannica: telegraph]])) Students in these clubs elected officers and were responsible for the maintenance and operation of the telegraph, including fees for messaging.

=====Brownell Hall Telegraph Company=====

This may refer to the first telegraph lines set up in Brownell hall by two members of the senior class in early 1873 "in room 28, Brownell Hall, the first wire extending from the table to the window." The "operation" soon became too large for one room, and "a wire was soon stretched from the room to number 15, same hall, and the circuit completed by an attachment to the gas pipe. The line was next extended from No. 15 the entire length of the Campus to 77 College St., where an aspirant for telegraphic honors then resided. This was all that was done during that Collegiate year with the exception of establishing an additional station at 34, B. H." ((//Trinity Tablet//, January 1874)) 

By December, 1873, "telegraphing became quite a rage" with students playing chess, checkers, and other games via telegraph. ((//Trinity Tablet//, January 1874)) At this time, "opposition lines" were also installed exclusively in [[jarvis_hall_old_campus|Jarvis Hall]]. In November, 1874, the //Tablet// reported that the Brownell Hall Telegraph Co. was prosperous with twelve operators.

=====College Union Telegraphic Association=====

The Trinity College Telegraphic Association, later the College Union Telegraphic Association, was organized in early 1874 by students who were "interested in telegraphy" and had begun operating telegraph lines throughout campus. The club elected officers including President, Secretary Treasurer, Chief Operator, Battery Superintendent, Line Repairer, and Messenger Boy.

Its main office was located at 41 Jarvis Hall (Later 13 [[brownell_hall|Brownell Hall]]), and it had multiple branch offices in Jarvis Hall, Brownell Hall, down Washington Street, at Western Union Telegraph Co., and Hartford Depot. 

It is unclear whether this club was a continuation or formalization of the Brownell Hall Telegraphic Company, or whether it was a separate/rival organization.

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===== Sources =====

**Brownell Hall Telegraph Company**

[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tablets/79|The Trinity Tablet]], January 1874, p. 5.

**College Union Telegraphic Association**

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tablets/104|The Trinity Tablet]], February 19, 1876, p. 16. 

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/ivy/79|The Trinity Ivy]], 1874, p. 64. 

[[https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tablets/81|The Trinity Tablet]], March 1874, p. 32.

[[http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/tablets/79|The Trinity Tablet]], January 1874, p. 5.

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