13 November 2013

Telegrams are practically extinct -- did they deliver important news for your family?

The announcement of my birth via Telegram!  A practically extinct form of communication!

Wow – though I can’t say I’ve ever sent one, it was interesting to just read  that in July (okay, so I was a bit behind on reading my Time magazine collection), in India, the last telegram was sent.  And, it was only a few years ago in 2006 that the last telegram was sent in the US

Apparently, there are still a few countries in the world where telegrams can be sent, though between 2001 and the present, telegram services shut down in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nepal, etc.  It says that in the Philippines, service ceased September 20, 2013, just about 6 weeks ago.

Though I have never sent a telegram, at the time of my birth – my parents did send a telegram to let my paternal grandmother know that I had entered the world!  Transatlantic phone calls were prohibitively expensive.  My dad was stationed in England and his mom lived in King George Virginia.

Do you have any telegrams in your possession?  What news do they convey?

What do you think has replaced telegrams as a means of communication?

Are there other types of communication have pretty much disappeared in our lifetime?

Does this make our family history research easier or harder or it just doesn't matter?











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