Samuel F. B. Morse's colored sketch of railway telegraph, ca. 1838

Reproduction number: A67 (color slide)
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), perhaps best known as the inventor of the first practical telegraph instrument, began his career as an artist and enjoyed a secure reputation as a portrait painter. By 1837, however, Morse decided to devote all his time to the development of electromagnetic telegraphy. During the course of a visit in 1838-39 to Europe to secure patents, he developed an application of his telegraph for railway signaling that was designed to report automatically the presence of a train anywhere on the railway line. Morse's color drawing of this signal telegraph reflects his talent as both an inventor and artist.