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History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications |
1879 Anniversary Celebration |
On March 10th, 1854, Cyrus Field signed a contract which would change both his own life and the history of communications. On that date, he and his partners acquired the Newfoundland Electric Telegraph Company, which had the exclusive rights to erect telegraphs in Newfoundland. This was the beginning of his attempts to lay the Atlantic Cable between Ireland and Newfoundland. The project occupied him for the next twelve years, concluding in 1866 with the successful installation of two cables. Since that time, North America and Europe have never been out of immediate communication with each other. In 1879, Field commemorated the 25th anniversary of this historic contract with a celebration at his Gramercy Park New York residence. 1800 guests were invited and 1000 attended. The invitation for the event was engraved and printed by Tiffany & Co., and is reproduced below. Click here for a large (400K) image of the invitation. Cyrus Field's brother, David Dudley Field, made a short speech at the reception, outlining the progress in communications since the organization of the first Atlantic cable company. The following description of the invitation is from Ocean Telegraphy: The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Organization of the First Company Ever Formed to Lay an Ocean Cable. Printed for private circulation only, 64 pages, 1879.
The invitation below has eight clickable areas which will bring up larger images of each section. |
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See the Atlantic Cable Projectors page for more information on the scene in Cyrus Field's dining room. |
Last revised: 8 January, 2014 |
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