MG-454. L. H. KINNARD CHAPTER NO. 7 OF THE TELEPHONE PIONEERS OF AMERICA COLLECTION, 1874-1994.

The Telephone Pioneers of America is an association that was
created thirty-six years after Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone. The Pioneers first convened in Boston on November 2, 1911 with the goal of promoting a common bond of fellowship among those who had ushered in this new era of communication. In their own words, "the purpose of the Telephone Pioneers of America shall be to provide a means of friendly association for the longer-service employees in the telephone industry, either active or retired, and to promote among them a continuing fellowship and a spirit of mutual helpfulness, to exemplify and perpetuate those principles which have come to be regarded as the ideals and traditions of the industry, and to participate in such undertakings as may be deemed to make for the happiness, well-being and usefulness of the membership and for the progress of the Association." The L. H. Kinnard Chapter No. 7 originally was established on June 7, 1922 as the Central Pennsylvania Chapter No. 7. The name was changed to the L. H. Kinnard Chapter in 1935 in honor of Leonard Kinnard, who became president of the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania in 1919 and remained in that capacity until his resignation in 1934. The Pioneers are involved in a number of community social activities such as volunteering in walkathons, "bowlathons," telethons, safe-driving transports, and serving the handicapped, and in a wide variety of philanthropic holiday projects. Materials in this collection relating to the African American experience include the following:

A. L. H. KINNARD CHAPTER RECORDS

Photographs. Photographs taken during the 1992 Sports Jamboree include African Americans as subjects.

B. RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL TELEPHONE PIONEERS OF AMERICA

Miscellaneous, [ca. 1941-1987]. Included is the 1984 issue of The Telephone Pioneer is a quarterly published by the Telephone Pioneers of America to communicate the goals and activities of Pioneers throughout the United States and Canada. The Winter 1984 issue contains "the Editor’s Notebook" written by the Pioneer’s news editor, Donald Singletary, an African American.

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