OCTOBER 25, 2025 — Two Bell System flags, symbols of a once-unified American communications network, have found a new home in the Bell Archives, courtesy of a gift from Ted Kaye, Secretary of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) and former Bell System employee.
According to the January-October 2025 edition of the Dialtone newsletter, Kaye donated the two banners, one dating back to 1948 and the other from the late 1960s, that once flew above the headquarters of The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company at 140 New Montgomery in San Francisco. The building served as the nerve centre for the Bell System’s California and Nevada operations.
The older flag, an immense 16-by-24-foot (4.9-by-7.3-meter) standard, displays the classic Bell System insignia used between 1939 and 1964, featuring the bell emblem without the outer lettering. Remarkably well-preserved, it now rests in the Bell Archives’ temperature-controlled storage facility.
The second flag, measuring 12 by 18 feet (3.7 by 5.5 meters), represents the next evolution of the corporate design that replaced its predecessor across the network between 1969 and 1983.
“Ted had worked with the Phone Company, and had been given these flags when he worked at 140 New Montgomery, and they were no longer needed,” the newsletter explained.
The Archives expressed deep appreciation for Kaye’s contribution, adding that donations like his preserve pieces of the nation’s telecommunications story for future generations.
Image: Dialtone
