[Raleigh]

My parents-in-law had a lake cabin in northern Wisconsin. It was built in the 20's or before, but they bought it in 1973 or thereabouts. I married into the family in 1982. On one side of the house there was an antenna wire with glass insulators identical to those shown in these pictures, with an uninsulated wire between them and an uninsulated lead coming down in to one window of the house. In the '80s I sometimes took a short wave radio to the cabin to listen to short wave stations, and I connected it to that antenna lead. I didn't know in those days that early AM radios needed external antennas. I figured the antenna was used for short wave.

One of those glass insulators was lost in a remodeling project, but I saved the other. It's cool to think that maybe a Philco antenna kit like the one in these pictures was used for AM radio reception when the cabin was new and had no electricity or plumbing, and the original owners connected their DC radio to listen to music, news, and drama on an early Philco.

Thanks for these pictures.