Title: Wall telephone

Identifier: Country Doctor Museum   (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/14366)

Description: This cathedral style wall telephone was built by the Sumter Telephone Manufacturing Company, established in 1900 by Charles T. Mason and F.C. Manning in Sumter, South Carolina. The company produced everything needed for the telephones except the rubber parts. Sumter manufactured its telephone cases from local oak trees. Prior to the introduction of the telephone, patients had to send another person for the doctor, or, sometimes, a white cloth tied outside a home alerted the passing physician that someone needed help. By allowing patients and physicians to communicate much more quickly and conveniently, the telephone made an important contribution to improved health care.