nara:arcid=1633445

Photograph of Women Working at a Bell System Telephone Switchboard

from U.S. National Archives

• Enric Martinez said:

  Fantastic image. I simply love this weird tech they used in these days.

• stoppuller said:

  Before Direct Dial, any Long Distance call was handled by operators like these -- including inter-city calls in the U.S. Nearly every tiny town had someone operating a switcfhboard, often in a private residence. Night calls were handled by an operator who had a bedroom adjacent to the switchboard. And LD calls took a long time if they had to go through several relays, or if the receiving party did not have a dial phone. Furthermore, as recent as the 1960s, it often took up to a half hour to call from America to parts of Europe. An international operator in New York received a verbal request, and usually, the operator would call back when finally ther was an open line. Times have changed so in recent decades; but somehow the old "wierd" methods were more interesting than today's instantaneous automatic worldwide phone calls "untouched by human hands."

• The U.S. National Archives said:

  Thanks for sharing your fascinating insight with us, stoppuller! Jerry (U.S. National Archives)

• O B McClintock bank vault burglar alarm said:

  This is an overseas 3CH board on the east coast. I was one of the first men hired about 40 years ago on the 3CL board.When I started with Bell I had to start on switchboards such as this. Rear cord for answer and front to key pulse out on. I also remember MX routing, npa, nxx, and terns like DA and BY. On the route and rate board I remember terms such as these; for numbers "218 plus 7D or for operators 218 plus 065 plus", as an example. Or for a ring down we said: 218 plus 065, Springfield will answer." Its been over 40 years ago but it seems like just the other day. Good memories!!!

• Tom Hart said:

  With this picture I have discovered a third one on Flickr with operators wearing the apparatus where a woman had a mouthpiece to speak into right in front of her mouth. The scale is too small to see clearly, except fair with the nearest seated operator. The near-distance standing supervisor is holding on to her equipment. Operators having this kind of equipment stayed in my mind, and somehow I regretted changes. When I grew old enough, the position in front of her mouth seemed sexy, and in recent days I've wanted to search Flickr for the old equipment as a fetish. I discussed two other pictures I found yesterday, and this joins them in my faves. Tom Hart, Nashville, Tennessee, US