Was a thing I did for many years back in the late 90’s/early oughts back when I still had a land line – welcome to Arizona’s “one party” consent laws – so if I had a phone call back then, it went on tape. Now that every phone is a computer and tape recorder, it’s harder to do for some reason, and I almost never bother – then again, I almost never use a phone anymore. I will occasionally throw one on to listen to these *very loosely* archived conversations from, oh, say 2001, but it always startles me when I hear the voices of the dead. That happens much more often these days.
No, I *do not* collect old telephones. >.>
Hmm, I do have two old phones! One was new old stock like your black desk model but with the clear rotating switch for a second line. Western Electric, new in box. The other is an old Bakelite phone from a hotel in Mexico. Both work, but we don’t have a landline any more. Alas.
Though I don’t collect old ‘phones either, I did keep my red dial phone from when I had to rent it from AT&T in the 1970s. I was supposed to return it to them when I upgraded but their return process was so convoluted that I just gave up and kept it.
Good thing, too, because now it is still my main connection to the phone system. Cell reception is completely unreliable at my home in the mountains(!) of Maine, though I do get a good signal at many other places in the state.
Can’t wait to see how well my iPhone 7 is working 50 years from now!
BTW, you made me realize that I don’t have conversations worth recording. Hmmmm. Gotta improve that. Ted, if you like, I’ll mail you my phone number and you can record us being interesting.
Heh, I don’t even really have a phone anymore – once I was able to communicate through writing primarily for business and personal comms, I gave up on voice comms. Much more efficient and avoids misunderstandings. (: