Many people collect technological artifacts with an enthusiasm that sometimes borders on the obsessive, as previous Tidbits on slide rules, pocket calculators, chopsticks and other eating utensils, and mimeograph machines suggest.  Many of these collections are of value to historians of technology who can use them to study the ways in which society and technology shape each other.  Apart from their scholarly interest, many of the objects--especially light bulbs, as you can see in the picture above and in illustrations on some of sites listed below--are aesthetically pleasing and fun to look at and compare to their modern counterparts.

Links:
= highly recommended

The Mount Vernon Museum of Incandescent Lighting.  A part of the Past Technology Site (which may or may not actually exist), this rather amateurish site has huge, ugly fonts and lots of typos, but is illustrated with some nice photos of Hugh Hicks's collection.

Kilokat's Antique Light Bulb and Vacuum Tube Site.  Also known as "bulbcollector.com," this site is a great resource on the subject.  Included among the many highlights is a visit to Hugh Hicks's Mount Vernon Museum of Incandescent Lighting.

"Antique Light bulbs are Illuminating Collections," Thomas Edison made way for an intriguing field of collectible light bulbs, reports Tammy Springer on collectingchannel.com.  A short article about this unusual hobby.

"Lighting a Revolution."  A site explaining the history of inventing electric lights, from the Smithsonian Institution (July 2001).  Not one of SI's finest efforts, but worth a look nonetheless.

Karlucci Studios Antique Lighting Home Page.  Featuring antique and restored lighting fixtures for sale as well as a history of home lighting in the United States and Karlucci's own line of painted bulbs.  The page is hard to find, he says, but he prefers it that way.  (First time I've ever seen someone say that about their web site!)

Early Incandescent Lamps.  A large site created by Edward J. Covington of Millfield, Ohio (April 2002) with an emphasis on incandescent lamps manufactured between the years 1880 and 1925.  Covington includes information on many little-known, but important, incandescent lighting pioneers, such as Lewis Howard Latimer, son of a slave who, in the early 1880s, "invented and patented a process for making carbon filaments for light bulbs." 

Don Klipstein's Light, Lamp, and Strobe Site.  All kinds of cool stuff about lighting, old and new.

Chris Millinship's "World of Electrical Things That Glow."  An online light bulb museum, presenting selections from his collection of about 2,000 bulbs.

AAMSCO Lighting.  Authentically detailed reproduction antique bulbs for museums, historical restorations, period homes, etc.

Weston Electrical Instrument Corporation.  Edward Weston (1850-1936) is best known by photographers for his company's light meters, but his firm also made bulbs.

"Eastbourne's Street Lighting, a history by Bob Cookson." Bob has written a very detailed history of the development of street lighting in the town on the south coast of England beginning in 1881.  Everything you could possibly want to know about this subject (and more).

Bulbs.com.  "The light bulb superstore."