"What Hath God Wrought" Telegraph Message
date: label: date made
content: 1844-05-25
label: date made
content: 1844-05-24
label: associated date
content: 1844-05-24
label: donated
content: 1900-04-18
name: label: associated person
content: Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
label: maker
content: Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
notes: label: Description
content: Telegraph message, printed in Morse code, transcribed and signed by Samuel F. B. Morse. This message was transmitted from Baltimore, Maryland, to Washington, D.C., over the nation's first long-distance telegraph line.
label: Description
content: In 1843, Congress allocated $30,000 for Morse (1791-1872) to build an electric telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore. Morse and his partner, Alfred Vail (1807-1859), completed the forty-mile line in May 1844. For the first transmissions, they used a quotation from the Bible, Numbers 23:23: "What hath God wrought," suggested by Annie G. Ellsworth (1826-1900), daughter of Patent Commissioner Henry L. Ellsworth (1791-1858) who was present at the event on 24 May. Morse, in the Capitol, sent the message to Vail at the B&O Railroad's Pratt Street Station in Baltimore. Vail then sent a return message confirming the message he had received.
label: Description
content: The original message transmitted by Morse from Washington to Baltimore, dated 24 May 1844, is in the collections of the Library of Congress. The original confirmation message from Vail to Morse is in the collections of the Connecticut Historical Society.
label: Description
content: This tape, dated 25 May, is a personal souvenir transmitted by Vail in Baltimore to Morse in Washington the day following the inaugural transmissions. The handwriting on the tape is that of Morse himself. Found in Morse’s papers after his death the tape was donated to the Smithsonian in 1900 by his son Edward, where it has been displayed in many exhibitions.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Maryland, Baltimore
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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content: Government, Politics, and Reform
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Family & Social Life
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content: Work
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: National Treasures exhibit
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content: Religion
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Edward Lind Morse
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.001028
label: catalog number
content: 001028
label: accession number
content: 65555
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph message
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/2 in x 27 3/4 in; 3.81 cm x 70.485 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, mounted: 5/32 in x 35 in x 9 in; .39687 cm x 88.93967 cm x 22.86 cm