That’s really cool history! Three standards.

Some of those early switches took forms that aren’t commonly seen now. There were a number of switches with on and off pushbuttons; those went out of fashion many years ago. There were also a couple that were rotary switches rather than up-down; those have the disadvantage of not giving a clear visual indication of being on or off.

The original outlets were quite distinctive because they had horizontal slots along with the vertical ones, interconnected. That wasn’t keying for higher current outlets, as it can be now — it was for DC! Way back then it wasn’t clear whether AC or DC would prevail, so outlets were made that could be used for either standard. (DC devices used plugs where the two prongs were collinear rather than parallel.)

The builder was clearly also into belt and suspenders, as it were. Many of the locations that have wall-mounted lamp sconces also have gas pipes leading to them, as a provision for gaslights. We don’t believe they were ever used; they don’t have gas flowing to them now (they’re disconnected in the basement) and may never have had gas, but if that whole electricity thing hadn’t worked out they would have been easy to connect. The house originally had four circuits that went to a fuse box on the second floor; that box has long since been decommissioned and replaced with a larger breaker box in the basement. We also have knob and tube wiring in the walls, also decommissioned.