From 19 March new exhibition at Dauderi “The Era of Dial Telephone in Riga”

From 19 March at LNMH Dauderi (Zāģeru iela 7) new exhibition “The Era of Dial Telephone in Riga” (in Latvian “Ciparripas laikmets Rīgā”) will be on display showing telephones from the collections of Valdis Hofmarks and Sergejs Blats.

37 dial telephones, made from 1926 to 1990 from private collections and historical photographies from the museum collection will be on display.

The first telephones appeared in Riga in 1877, but five years later, in 1882, the first manual telephone exchange began operating in Riga. A telephone operator connected two callers by dialing the number of the subscriber being called at the exchange. Such exchanges were called “manual” exchanges. Starting in 1925, automatic telephone exchanges and compatible telephones with rotary dials began to be used in Latvia. Using an automatic telephone was much more convenient and faster, as the subscriber could dial the desired number themselves using the telephone’s dial. By turning it to the stop and releasing it, electrical pulses were sent to the exchange, the number of which corresponded to the selected digit. The exchange received these pulses, and subscribers were connected automatically. Initially, the idea of an automatic switchboard faced a lot of opposition, as subscribers did not know how to use the dial, the switchboard equipment was not properly calibrated, and, due to system transitions, both manual and automatic switchboards operated in parallel in Riga for some time. Over time, however, people got used to the idea that they could make calls on their own, and by the second half of the 1920s and the 1930s, the availability of automatic telephones in public places, such as cafes and restaurants, was already taken for granted.

In 1932, the state-owned joint-stock company “State Electrotechnical Factory” (VEF) was established on the basis of the Main Workshop of the Post and Telegraph Department. After World War II, it became one of the largest manufacturers of communications equipment in the Soviet Union. In 1957, the factory began modernizing its telephone designs, influenced by the “Victoria,” a new-design desk telephone presented in Brussels; starting in 1986, “VEF” produced telephones in which the rotary dial had already been replaced by push-button keys, making the connection to the central office even more automated.

Collector Valdis Hofmarks has been collecting telephones for nearly 45 years. His extensive collection includes around 140 telephones and is recognized as one of the most significant in Latvia. The exhibition will feature 25 different telephone models from this collection that were manufactured in Latvia during the interwar period, including automatic telephone models designed to be mounted on the wall. The exhibition will feature rare and unique telephones, such as the LaMonPerk model, which was manufactured in Latvia only in 1931.

Collector Sergejs Blats, who founded and continues to run SIA “Telekom Serviss” in 1993, graduated from the Faculty of Automatic Telecommunications at the former Riga Polytechnic Institute and remains devoted to the profession he once chose. He passionately collects a wide variety of historical telephones and communication devices, and his collection already numbers about 1,500 items. The exhibition will feature telephones manufactured by “VEF” in the Latvian SSR from 1961 to 1990. The most striking examples stand out for their unusual designs, including phone casings in unusually bright colors. Efforts to improve user-friendliness and the evolving designs reflect the momentum of modernization in manufacturing. Over time, the phone’s dial pad is replaced by a button panel, and the ability to store up to 32 phone numbers is introduced.

The exhibition will be on display until 10 May.