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Object Timeline

-0001

1927

  • Work on this object began.

1947

  • Work on this object ended.

1994

  • We acquired this object.

2013

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Model 302 Telephone

This is a telephone. It was designed by Henry Dreyfuss and manufactured by Western Electric Manufacturing Company and made for Bell Telephone Company. It is dated ca. 1937 and we acquired it in 1994. Its medium is cast and enamel-coated metal, steel, printed paper, rubber-sheathed cord. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

This elegant sculptural telephone has sidewalls that swoop upward from a rectangular base. It resembles an earlier phone introduced in Sweden in 1931, designed by Jean Heiberg for Ericsson. The Swedish model is housed in Bakelite, a hard plastic that was considered an innovative modern material; the Model 302 was manufactured in metal—a more traditional material—until 1946.

This object was featured in our Object of the Week series in a post titled The 302.

It is credited Museum purchase from the Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund.

  • Telephone (USA)
  • molded plastic, plastics, metal, electronic components.
  • Gift of Henry Dreyfuss.
  • 1972-88-179-2

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Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 14 x 23 x 18.5cm (5 1/2 x 9 1/16 x 7 5/16in.)

Cite this object as

Model 302 Telephone; Designed by Henry Dreyfuss (American, 1904–1972); Manufactured by Western Electric Manufacturing Company (United States); Made for Bell Telephone Laboratories (United States); USA; cast and enamel-coated metal, steel, printed paper, rubber-sheathed cord; H x W x D: 14 x 23 x 18.5cm (5 1/2 x 9 1/16 x 7 5/16in.); Museum purchase from the Decorative Arts Association Acquisition Fund; 1994-73-2

The Conservation department has taken one photo of this object.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18649321/ |title=Model 302 Telephone |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=11 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>