Listening through a crystal: a small receiver, a large question

Begin with the record

The Science Museum Group identifies a “cat's whisker” crystal receiver made by the Scientific Wireless Company in Manchester around 1920–1925. Its catalogue description includes a single headphone and an original crystal. The record gives us a specific object rather than an imaginary “typical” listener.

Equipment and experience

An early receiver can prompt questions that a chronology alone misses. Where would it have been set up? Who adjusted it? Was listening shared or individual? How did the equipment influence which programmes somebody could hear?

Those questions need further evidence. A photograph may show the arrangement of a room; instructions may explain operation; a personal recollection may describe the excitement or frustration of listening. One kind of source does not automatically answer all the others.

Visit with curiosity

Look at the original museum record and compare the receiver with a device you use now. Notice the separate earpiece and the exposed importance of individual components. Our accompanying drawing is a simplified interpretation, not a photograph or an exact reconstruction of this object.

The surviving machine is held by the institution named in the source. This online exhibition links to that record so you can continue your own investigation.