 We are headed to the AT&T archive in New Jersey. It's a large warehouse that holds decades worth of material and it kind of seems there's one guy who is the archivist, but other than that it seems really like kind of a storage facility. I am George Kopchak. I'm the manager of the AT&T Archives and History Center at its Warren, New Jersey location. We have a repository that has over 10,000 artifacts, probably over 10,000 films and videos, close to a million or probably over a million photos that trace the history of AT&T over the years. I thought of this place's name as being the AT&T Information Center and what does that come out? Attic. I kind of thought of that as just kind of a fun way of representing what we have here. It's amazing what I have. I'm constantly surprised. Over here we have this vacuum tube, which I think is fascinating. This was part of the first television demonstration and it was from New York to Washington. You can tell me what it's about. I have no idea. Here, we can look at this, what it says. That simulates some functions of a living nerve cell. This innovation led to having visual communications. Cool. Unix is the underlying language that the internet is based on. This was the beginning. This was probably a few years later, but the internet was developed because of Unix. There is a romantic notion in that this is the nascent beginnings of communications and other cultural things that we take for granted. I was a dancer at one point. I also did theater. Come right in. Joined the company about 24 years ago and I started off as a paralegal through several promotions and whatever. I wound up here in the archives and the more I work, I go, oh my gosh, we did that here too? Oh my gosh. That kind of gets you more excited because then there's something new every day. Favorite artifacts? Well, the telephone wire is one. Find that exciting. I also have a Vita phone. I have the actual lab notebook of Bretan. The actual patent that Bell received from the patent office on March 7th, 1876. It's considered the most valuable patent ever issued. This is where he actually recorded the first telephone conversation on March 10th, 1876 and I will warn you right now, I didn't put the scotch tape that you're going to see. Right where my thumb is, my right thumb, it says March 10th, 1876. Mr. Watson, come here. I want to. History is history. There's good history, there's bad history. Don't want to let that go because it'll remind you whether it's a good thing or a bad thing of what that represents and hopefully if it's a bad thing, you don't repeat it. Everything had to have a beginning, whether it was something from a hundred years ago and by step, by step, by step, it became this huge invention or innovation that we have now. If it wasn't for that first step, you're not going to get anywhere. How many people have the opportunity to do something that is fun and enjoyable? Yeah, it has its moments where you're busy and you're trying to get everything done, but for the most part, it's a nice gig.
 We are headed to the AT&T archive in New Jersey.
 It's a large warehouse that holds decades worth of material and it kind of seems there's
 one guy who is the archivist, but other than that it seems really like kind of a storage
 facility.
 I am George Kopchak.
 I'm the manager of the AT&T Archives and History Center at its Warren, New Jersey location.
 We have a repository that has over 10,000 artifacts, probably over 10,000 films and
 videos, close to a million or probably over a million photos that trace the history of
 AT&T over the years.
 I thought of this place's name as being the AT&T Information Center and what does that
 come out?
 Attic.
 I kind of thought of that as just kind of a fun way of representing what we have here.
 It's amazing what I have.
 I'm constantly surprised.
 Over here we have this vacuum tube, which I think is fascinating.
 This was part of the first television demonstration and it was from New York to Washington.
 You can tell me what it's about.
 I have no idea.
 Here, we can look at this, what it says.
 That simulates some functions of a living nerve cell.
 This innovation led to having visual communications.
 Cool.
 Unix is the underlying language that the internet is based on.
 This was the beginning.
 This was probably a few years later, but the internet was developed because of Unix.
 There is a romantic notion in that this is the nascent beginnings of communications and
 other cultural things that we take for granted.
 I was a dancer at one point.
 I also did theater.
 Come right in.
 Joined the company about 24 years ago and I started off as a paralegal through several
 promotions and whatever.
 I wound up here in the archives and the more I work, I go, oh my gosh, we did that here
 too?
 Oh my gosh.
 That kind of gets you more excited because then there's something new every day.
 Favorite artifacts?
 Well, the telephone wire is one.
 Find that exciting.
 I also have a Vita phone.
 I have the actual lab notebook of Bretan.
 The actual patent that Bell received from the patent office on March 7th, 1876.
 It's considered the most valuable patent ever issued.
 This is where he actually recorded the first telephone conversation on March 10th, 1876
 and I will warn you right now, I didn't put the scotch tape that you're going to see.
 Right where my thumb is, my right thumb, it says March 10th, 1876.
 Mr. Watson, come here.
 I want to.
 History is history.
 There's good history, there's bad history.
 Don't want to let that go because it'll remind you whether it's a good thing or a bad thing
 of what that represents and hopefully if it's a bad thing, you don't repeat it.
 Everything had to have a beginning, whether it was something from a hundred years ago
 and by step, by step, by step, it became this huge invention or innovation that we have
 now.
 If it wasn't for that first step, you're not going to get anywhere.
 How many people have the opportunity to do something that is fun and enjoyable?
 Yeah, it has its moments where you're busy and you're trying to get everything done,
 but for the most part, it's a nice gig.