Additional Media

Picturephone service launch in 1970. Mayor Peter Flaherty of Pittsburgh, Lawrence Barnhorst VP and General Manager of Bell of Pennsylvania, and George Bloom chairman of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Picturephone 50th Anniversary in 2020. Mayor William Peduto of Pittsburgh talks with his Executive Assistant on a AT&T Mod II Picturephone refurbished at Carnegie Mellon University.

Picturephone 50th Anniversary in 2020. Mayor William Peduto of Pittsburgh talks with his Executive Assistant on a AT&T Mod II Picturephone refurbished at Carnegie Mellon University.

Picturephone 50th Anniversary in 2020. Mayor William Peduto of Pittsburgh talks with his Executive Assistant on a AT&T Mod II Picturephone refurbished at Carnegie Mellon University.

One of CMU's historic Picturephones on Mayor William Peduto's desk.

Print advertisement announcing the commercial launch of Picturephone service.

Bell Laboratories' Richard Gilman demonstrates the document sharing ability of the Picturephone (note flip out mirror in front of camera). Image from the 1970 launch press kit.

Westinghouse Electric President D.C. Burnham using his Picturephone to converse with staff at the company's New York office.

Ann Porskievies of Bell Laboratories sits amid telephone history, with a 1928 telephone shown on the Picturephone screen. Image from the 1970 launch press kit.

Picturephone sets rolling down the production line in Indianapolis in preparation for the consumer launch on July 1, 1970. Image from the 1970 launch press kit.

One of several circuit boards packed inside a Picturephone's diminutive enclosure. Image from the 1970 launch press kit.

Final assembly of some 1200 parts that comprise each Picturephone set. Image from the 1970 launch press kit.

A worker prepares to install one of several circuit boards that make up a Picturephone.

An engineer tests the calibration of the document camera.

Introduction cover page by Julius P. Molnar in the May/June 1969 issue of Bell Laboratories Record (Magazine).

By the time of the launch, Bell Labs was already hard at work on upgrading Picturephone service to include color video.

Carnegie Mellon University has two AT&T Mod II Picturephones in its collections.

One of CMU's Picturephones has been nondestructively modified to be able to run modern video conferencing software.

Closeup of upper housing and flip camera.

Closeup of Picturephone stand.