Here follows a short, well-intentioned treatise on the telegraph:
"In the rise of any new medium," Paul Starr tells us, "a key factor is its relationship to the dominant technology of the day" (193). The telegraph, and the powers-that-be that largely controlled its use and prominence in American society, hung on for dear life once Bell and others appeared on the scene with their new challenger, the telephone. What I think is even more impressive about this historical narrative, though, is the extent to which, even after the "rise" of the telephone and its twentieth-century introduction into domestic and commercial spheres alike, the telegraph continued to serve an unrivaled function. Though Starr largely abandons his treatment of the telegraph once its sexier younger sibling is thrown into the mix, the telegraph -- as many, including Tom Standage, author of The Victorian Internet and previously cited by Starr, demonstrate -- continued to play an important role for Americans up until even the 1950s since telegrams were, until this point in time, much cheaper than long-distance telephone calls. In the end, it was not the telephone that finally brought about the telegraph's ultimate demise but, perhaps, the email, which replicated both its format (text) and function (able to cheaply cross large distances). Likewise, Standage reports, the modern marvel of the cellphone text message now largely stands to fulfill the same function the telegram once satisfied -- short messages, sparse punctuation, and adapted media-specific slang.
On February 2, 2006 -- a scandalously recent date in cultural memory, if you ask me -- National Public Radio ran a story announcing the official death of the telegram. Western Union, on the previous Friday, had sent its last telegram ever, and was to then permanently discontinue this service. I have been, ever since, dying to know what the last telegram in all the world said, and to whom, but, as it happens, these things are still protected by the Fourth Ammendment, and by the 1877 Supreme Court ruling cited by Starr (187). You can read all about the last telegram, as well as several "famous" historical telegrams, on the NPR site:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5186113
I'm assuming this means my dream of receiving a singing telegram is also off the table.
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