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The Galvin Tower Collection

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The Galvin Tower Collection

Follow the story of three generations of the Galvin family, their achievements, and their innovations through personal and technological artifacts.

Innovation Timeline: The Motorola Legacy 75 Years — Mike Galvin’s grandfather, father, and brother each left an indelible mark on Motorola. Each of the four men are represented by items in our physical collection.

Special thanks to Motorola Solutions Archives for providing digital materials, information, and identification for the collection.

Motorola Golden Voice Auto Radio, Model 700

Date: 1940

With electric push-button tuning and eight tubes, the model 700 was Motorola’s top-of-the-line auto radio in 1940. Buyers could specify the type of speaker and controls so that the radio could be installed in any car model.

Motorola Car Radio Brochure Covers — Motorola brochure covers promoting car radio models for Chevrolet and Buick vehicles (United States, 1939)

Motorola 1940 Catalog Page Car Radio Controls — A page from a 1940 Motorola catalog showing car radio controls

Motorola Golden View Television, Model VT-71

Date: 1948

Motorola introduced its Golden View line of televisions in 1947. The popular Golden View VT-71 table model was designed to be relatively compact and affordable compared to earlier console television models.

Motorola VT-71 Brochure Cover — A brochure cover promoting the Motorola Golden View television, model VT-71 (United States, 1947)

Motorola VT-71 Engineering Blueprint — An engineering blueprint for a Motorola VT-71 television cabinet (United States, March 15, 1948). The blueprint for this cabinet television table model includes dimensions and a materials specification list for four submodels with different cabinet finishes.

Motorola Radio Set Control C-844/U

Date: Circa 1959

Over the years Motorola has had several contracts with the United States military to provide various system components related to communications. This item is the control for radio set AN/FRC-15 and was used by the Army between 1959 and its retirement in 1965.

Motorola Radio Set Control C-844/U packing list from 1965 — This packing list from 1965 accompanied the unit at the end of its military life

Army technical manual for radio set AN/FRC-15 cover image — An Army technical manual for radio set AN/FRC-15 that shows radio set control C-844/U

Motorola FM Signal Generator, Model T-1034B

Date: Circa 1962

In addition to making radio communications equipment, Motorola provided devices like this signal generator to test, calibrate, and maintain the radios.

Semiconductor Power Circuits Handbook

Copyright: 1968

Publisher: Motorola Inc., Semiconductor Products Division

Motorola began its research into solid state technology in 1949. For more than 50 years the company developed and produced thousands of models of discrete semiconductors, microcomputers, and microcontrollers. Handbooks like this one helped customers—from hobbyists to manufacturers of appliances, computers, and other technical devices—learn which semiconductor devices would work best for their projects.

Bob Galvin Speech at IIT in 1963 first page — Informal remarks by Robert W. Galvin, president of Motorola, at the conference on The Impact of Microelectronics, at Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (Chicago, June 26–27, 1963). Bob delivered this speech to a crowd of engineers and other attendees on campus at Illinois Tech. His speech covered several technical and entrepreneurial topics ranging from the company entering the semiconductor business and establishing a research lab, to how and why Motorola became their own manufacturer, to what microelectronics might look like in the future.

Motorola PT300 Handie-Talkie FM Radiophone, Model P31DDN-1100AMW

Date: Circa 1970

This type of two-way radio was designed to be carried and to withstand rugged use in public safety emergency situations, on construction sites, and in factories.

Handie-Talkie SCR536 AM handheld two-way radio diagram — In 1940 Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (Motorola) engineers developed the Handie-Talkie SCR536 AM handheld two-way radio, this model’s predecessor.

DynaTAC Phone, Edition No. 17

The world’s first handheld cellular phone by Motorola, Inc.

Date: Circa 1972

Also known as “The Brick,” this early DynaTAC phone is the same model as the one used to make the world’s first public phone call from a mobile phone as part of a Motorola press conference held on a New York City street in 1973.

From the collection of alumnus Marty Cooper (EE ’50, M.S. ’57), “Father of the Cell Phone”

Plaque donated by alumnus Marty Cooper along with DynaTAC phone — Plaque donated by alumnus Marty Cooper

Motorola executives and alumni John F. Mitchell (EE ’50) and Martin Cooper (EE ’50, M.S. ’54) discussing a prototype Motorola DynaTAC cellular phone, the world's first portable cellular phone (United States, 1973).

This image appeared in Motorola’s 1973 annual report with the caption, "A product truly ahead of its time, the DYNA-T.A.C. portable radiotelephone system, first demonstrated by Motorola in 1973, is similar to a normal dial telephone, but can be carried with the subscriber and used anywhere within the area of coverage."

Certificate of Presidential Appointment of Michael P. Galvin (LAW ’78)

Date: May 17, 1990

Mike was proud to serve as the United States’ assistant secretary of commerce for export administration during President George H. W. Bush’s time in office. When the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries imploded without bloodshed in the early 1990s, Mike led the agency that reformulated and renegotiated with our allies 45 years of post-World War II high-tech trade restrictions into newly democratizing countries. These newly liberated countries could then access the technology that they were previously denied in order to compete and grow in the global economy, enhancing the quality of living standards for their citizens.

From the collection of Michael P. Galvin

President Ronald Reagan, Michael P. Galvin, and Vice President George H. W. Bush — Michael P. Galvin with United States President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush during his service as assistant secretary of commerce in 1989 during the presidential transition from Reagan to Bush

Mike Galvin with Vice President George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush - On the occasion of a private dinner party at Mike and Elizabeth Galvin’s Chicago co-op apartment after a long day on the presidential campaign trail in 1988, the White House Office of Communications set up an array of sophisticated satellite dishes pointing outside the windows inside Mike and Elizabeth Galvin’s bedroom. When Mike inquired why, the vice president asked, “Mike, how does it feel to know that World War III could be fought from your bedroom?” Mike puckishly replied, “It already has…” George and Barbara got a big kick out of that after a long day on the campaign trail.

Additional imagery and information courtesy of Michael P. Galvin