Samuel F. B. Morse The online version of the Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress will offer access to the Manuscript Division collection of letterbooks, diaries, scrapbooks, clippings, and drawings of the inventor of the telegraph. This preview includes the paper tape containing the famous words chosen by Morse as the first telegraphic message, sent on May 24, 1844, What hath ...

Samuel F. B. Morse conceived of an electromagnetic telegraph in 1832 and constructed an experimental version in 1835. He did not construct a truly practical system until 1844, when he built a line from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. This model incorporates basic features of the 1844 receiver. It accompanied an application for a patent, granted in 1849, in which he described a method for marking ...