Tampere's Postal Museum to house Telia's national communications collection

The most nationally significant parts of a long-standing communications collection will be placed in the professional care of the Postal Museum (Postimuseo) in Tampere, with ownership retained by Telia. The transfer aims to secure long-term preservation and expand the collection's availability for research, exhibitions and teaching.

The assemblage documents how communications, data networks and connections were built across Finland. It includes objects, photographs and archival material from the era when the Postal and Telegraph Agency played a central role in telegraph, long-distance telephone and radio network operations.

Telia says the collection's national scope and rarity make it particularly valuable, containing material not recorded elsewhere and offering a window into how communication and security networks were extended to different parts of the country over decades. It's a rare record. "Preserving the historical information contained in the collection is extremely important to us at Telia. With the Postal Museum we can secure appropriate and safe storage conditions for the collection going forward. We are also pleased that others will be able to use the collection more easily," said Minna Söderström, Telia’s chief operating officer.

For Postimuseo, receiving the collection strengthens its mandate to preserve and interpret the history of postal and communication services nationwide. The museum will steward, research and promote the material as part of its national responsibility. "We will safeguard the collection for future generations and improve its usability for researchers, students, museums and the public," said Maria Pietilä, head of information services at Postimuseo.

The move builds on a long institutional history: efforts to preserve telecommunication equipment began after World War II, a combined postal and telegraph museum opened in Helsinki in 1962, and the holdings were later split into Postimuseo and what became Telegalleria in 1989. Telecommunication items were moved administratively in 1990, and much of the material has been in storage since Telegalleria closed in the early 2000s. Parts of Telia's collection are already on display at the Postia ja bittejä exhibition at the Vapriikki museum centre in Tampere. The pieces destined for Postimuseo will be housed in Tampere in museum-standard facilities to improve preservation and access.