Telephone Switchboard, undated
The early telephone networks required an operator to route incoming calls to their destinations via the switchboard. Messenger boys initially filled these jobs, but women soon replaced them because employers found that women processed the required skills of good interpersonal skills and concentration. It also helped that employers could pay women half or even a quarter of a man's salary.
"Telephone Switchboard" Photographs Envelope, Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana, Illinois.
Part of the blog post: Telephone history in C-U and the women running the boards
All images are provided for personal and educational use. Users planning to reproduce/publish images in books, articles, exhibits, videos, electronic transmission or other media must request permission. For more information please contact the Champaign County Historical Archives at The Urbana Free Library: archives@urbanafree.org
Telephone Switchboard, undated
The early telephone networks required an operator to route incoming calls to their destinations via the switchboard. Messenger boys initially filled these jobs, but women soon replaced them because employers found that women processed the required skills of good interpersonal skills and concentration. It also helped that employers could pay women half or even a quarter of a man's salary.
"Telephone Switchboard" Photographs Envelope, Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana, Illinois.
Part of the blog post: Telephone history in C-U and the women running the boards
All images are provided for personal and educational use. Users planning to reproduce/publish images in books, articles, exhibits, videos, electronic transmission or other media must request permission. For more information please contact the Champaign County Historical Archives at The Urbana Free Library: archives@urbanafree.org