One of the recently discovered items in the collection is an old photo album with images and descriptions of various police boxes throughout Great Britain — part of a study on policing practices outside New York. (Fans of the show “Doctor Who” will be familiar with the Tardis, a blue police box used by The Doctor to travel through time and space, as well as his constant exclamation: “it’s bigger on the inside.”)

Police boxes were small communication centers from which officers could call headquarters and members of the public could get in touch with police in case of an emergency before the widespread availability of portable two way radios.

Although cities in the United States experimented with police boxes, they had a relatively short life compared with their cousins across the  Atlantic. Below are just some examples of what could have been…