Antenna Newsletter

Antenna was the newsletter published for the Mercurians, Special Interest Group in the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT).

Mercurians co-founder Pam Laird and her successor Andrew Butrica edited, wrote for, laid out, published, and mailed Antenna between 1988 and 2011.

We are in the process of making Antenna issues and articles available here so watch this space!

Antenna articles, 1988-2011

IssuesArticle TitlesAuthors
Fall 2011 [pdf]“Dissident Visions through Technological Use: Radio and Television Solidarity in Poland, 1982-1989Carmen Krol
The Revolution Will Be Televised: The IRT Antú and the
Chilean Road to Socialism
Michael Lemon
Spring 2011 [pdf]The Beginnings of
Radio Habana Cuba
José Altshuler
The Once and Future
David Sarnoff Library
Alex Magoun
Spring & Fall 2010No issues of Antenna
Fall 2009 [pdf]Special Review Issue
Spring 2009 [pdf]The Computer as a Communications Device: Wiener
and Licklider and the Internet
Jay Hauben
Mysterious Radio:
Kipling and Cheever
A. David
Wunsch
Fall 2008 [pdf]The Victorian ‘Local Area
Network’: The American (Telegraphic) Method of Transits
Trudy Bell
Negotiating a Worldwide Space
Communications Network: NASA’s Discussions with the Australian and South African
Governments for the Establishment of Overseas Deep
Space Instrumentation Facilities, 1958-1960
Craig B. Waff
Spring 2008 [pdf]Cablecasting to
the Victorians
Duncan Fisher
The Araldo Telefonico: Origins,
Structures, and Models of Italian Broadcasting
Gabriele Balbi
Historic (Bell) Telephone Website: A Somewhat Satirical Look
Fall 2007 [pdf]Armstrong’s Invention of Noise-Suppressing FMMischa Schwartz
Extract from the Introduction to Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st CenturyChristopher H. Sterling
“Thunderstruck” a book reviewA. David Wunsch
Spring 2007 [pdf]Recently Completed Dissertations: Rita Zajacz and Susan Shelangoskie
New Books on History of Communication Technologies
New Book by Mercurian Richard Bellaver
Fall 2006No issue of Antenna
Spring 2006 [pdf]Early Electromagnetic Telephone Receivers Basilio Catania
Book Review: “History of Wireless”A. David Wunsch
Magnetorestriction Basilio Catania
Fall 2005 [pdf]Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose? The Peculiar French Telegraph Heidi Gautschi
New IEEE Milestone: Alexander Popov and Early Radio Pioneer
Swedes Give Bletchley Park Some CompetitionErnie Teagarden
Spring 2005 [pdf]Wiring the WorldJonathan Winkler
Walter J. Zenner,
1904-2004
Message Communications From
Morse Code to E-Mail
Ronald R. Thomas
Telegraphic Message PracticeJohn McVey
Fall 2004 [pdf]The “Telephon” of Philipp ReisBasilio Catania
When Women Were SwitchesRonald R. Thomas
Charles Bourseul
A.W.A. Electronic Communication Museum Pete Sypher
Spring 2004 [pdf]The French Roots of the FaxJonathan
Coopersmith
From Submarine Bells to Sonar: The Submarine Signal Company, 1901-1946John Merrill
Training Air Force Communications Officers in the 1960sRonald R.
Thomas
Who Invented the Telephone?
The Challenge of Preserving Telegraphic History Roger W. Reinke
Out of Cameroon: The
Media and the Message
Charles Verharen
Active Radio: Pacifica’s
Brash Experiment
Jon Bekken
Fall 2003 [pdf]Negotiating Technology and
Post-Apartheid Media and
Telecommunications Policy
Keyan G Tomaselli
Sorry, Wrong Numbers: The
EEOC and Equal Employment
Opportunity at AT&T
Thomas C. Jepsen
Telegraph Messenger Boys:
Labor, Technology, and
Geography, 1850-1950
Carrie Sanders
Military Communications in
the 1960s: Wiring up the Air
Force Eastern Test Range
Ronald R. Thomas
Fall 2003 insert [pdf]Obituary of Walter J. Ong, S.J., 1912-2003Editors
Spring 2003 [pdf]Citizens, Clients, and Consumers: Rethinking the Advent of American TelecommunicationsRichard John
IEEE Virtual MuseumDavid
Morton
Hams on Wheels: Amateur Radio Adapts to the AutomobileRonald R.
Thomas
Fall 2002 [pdf]Television History in the News and on the ‘NetAlex Magoun
The People’s TelephoneRobert
MacDougall
Satellite Command and
Control in the Soviet Union
David Arnold
Spring 2002Citizen (Band) of France Unite!Pascal Griset
Printing A Revolution? The End of Books
Reading the Red Ochre: Parting Thoughts on Mixed ReceptionsPamela W Laird
Dishing It Up: Really Big Antennas
The articles from November 1997 to November 2001 have links to individual articles on individual web pages
November 2001In Search of the First Personal ComputerSusan B. Barnes
“That’s As High As It Will Ever Get”: Getting into OrbitDavid J. Whalen
April 2001The World Wide Web and the Transformation of Internet Domain NamesMilton Mueller
Truth & Myth RevisitedLeslie D. Caldwell
Superman & the Case of the Disappearing Public TelephonePamela W. Laird
November 2000An Artificial Line, or Technology as SpectrologyAristotle Tympas
A Daemon in Her Shape: Dracula & 19th-CenturyJay Pawlowski
Communication Technologies
Truth & Myth & “Firsts”
Basilio Catania
April 2000Videotex, the Internet, and Innovation in France and the United StatesAmy L. Fletcher
Not the First Word on “Firsts”Dag Spicer
Communication Technologies and the Public HistorianMark D. Bowles
November 1999Information Networks and Urban Spaces: The Case of the Telegraph Messenger BoyGreg Downey

Editorial: Seduced by a ”First”
Pamela W. Laird
May 1999Flashback to the Sixties: Bridging and Earlier Communications GapRebecca Raines
Rereading the Supreme Court: Tesla’s Invention of RadioWallace Edward Brand
The Vacuum Tube MuseumKarl D. Stephan
November 1998Toward a History of Information SystemsDaniel R. Headrick
Misreading the Supreme Court: A Puzzling Chapter in the History of RadioA. David Wunsch
May 1998An Overview of Communication AnalysisLance Strate
The Smirk of ProgressAdam L. Gruen
November 1997Spread Spectrum: The Technology that Came in from the Cold (War)Editors
Joseph Henry: Radio PioneerAlan S. Douglas
April 1997The Information Crisis in Cold War AmericaMark D. Bowles
Data Compression—For TelegraphyJim Reeds
November 1996Antonio Meucci RevisitedBasilio Catania
National Cryptologic MuseumWilliam W. Ward
The Zapper in HistoryEditors
April 1996A Radio Pioneer’s Obscurity: R. A. FessendenGeorge Elliott
The French Cable Station MuseumKarl D. Stephen
November 1995Switching Equipment: A ResponseLeland Anderson
April 1995Communicating Business: Corporate Agendas Through PhotographsPeter Liebhold
The Southern Bell Telephone MuseumDavid Morton
November 1994Antonio Meucci and Invention in Nineteenth-Century AmericaW. Bernard Carlson
April 1994Wine, Industry, and Telephones (in France)Patrice A. Carré
History in the Service of Public Policy: The Debate about “Universal Service”Milton Mueller
Freeware: The Spectrum ProjectHugh G. J. Aitken
November 1993 [pdf]Nineteenth-Century Small PressesElizabeth Harris
The Qwerty SolutionKay Youngflesh
May 1993Quantification in Engineering: The Design of Radio Receivers in the 1920sFrederik Nebeker
A History of the ARPANET/Internet Computer NetworksJanet Abbate
November 1992 [pdf]They’re Virtually FansAndrea MacDonald
The Telephone’s Message (c. 1930)Excerpts from AT&T brochure
October 1991 [pdf]SHOT to meet in Madison October 30 – November 3Editors
IEEE/Rutgers Center Open to Scholars of Electrical HistoryEditors
At the Museum: TechnologyEditors
News About MercuriansEditors
October 1991 [pdf]Orality, Literacy, and Cultural History (roundtable)Joe Ashcroft, Lori Breslow, Paul Lippert, Lance Strate
February 1991 [pdf]McLuhan X 5: The Guru Grown Up?Willard Uncapher
PC Software: The New Incunabula?Jerry McCarthy
October 1990Communication and HistoryWillard Uncapher
“Information Age” (Smithsonian/NMAH)Pamela Inglesby & Lisa Rudy
February 1990Minitel: Don’t Believe the HypeRichard Kramer
Restructuring the Telecommunications Sector: Issues Confronting Developing CountriesNikhil Sinha
October 1989A Short History of GraffitiRobert Drew
February 1989 [pdf]High Profile for Communications at SHOT conferenceEditors
Business meeting selects “Mercurians” as SIG nameEditors
Paris conference on Telecommunications historyEditors
Book reviewsEditors
April 1988 [pdf]Welcome to AntennaEditors
Blessed [Thanks to Mel Kranzberg for support]Editors
Fall 1986 [pdf]Mercurians Special Interest Group Foundation LetterPamela Lurito and Lori Breslow
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