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{{Short description|Former telephony occupation}}
[[File:Telephone operators, 1952.jpg|thumb|[[Seattle]] telephone operators in a [[private branch exchange|<span lang="om" dir="ltr">private</span> branch exchange]] in 1952
In the early days of [[telephony]], companies used manual telephone switchboards, and '''switchboard operators''' connected calls by inserting a pair of [[Phone connector (audio)|phone plug]]s into the appropriate jacks. They were gradually phased out and replaced by automated systems, first those allowing [[Rotary dial|direct dialing]] within a local area, then for [[direct distance dialing|long-distance]] and [[international direct dialing]].
==Description==
A typical manual telephone switchboard has a vertical panel containing an array of jacks with a desk in front. The desk has a row of switches and two rows of plugs attached to cables that retract into the desk when not in use. Each pair of plugs was part of a [[cord circuit]] with a switch associated that let the operator participate in the call or ring the circuit for an incoming call. Each jack had a light above it that lit when the customer's telephone receiver was lifted (the earliest systems required the customer to hand-crank a [[telephone magneto|magneto]] to alert the central office and, later, to "ring off" the completed call). Lines from the central office were usually arranged along the bottom row. Before the advent of operator distance dialing and customer [[direct distance dialing|direct dial]] (DDD) calling, a switchboard
Before the advent of [[telephone exchange|automatic exchanges]], an operator's assistance was required for anything other than calling telephones across a shared [[Party line (telephony)|party line]]. Callers spoke to an operator at a central office who then connected a cord to the proper circuit in order to complete the call. Being in complete control of the call, the operator was in a position to listen to private conversations. Automatic, or dial, systems were developed in the 1920s to reduce labor costs as usage increased, and to ensure privacy to the customer. As phone systems became more sophisticated, less direct intervention by the telephone operator was necessary to complete calls. With the development of [[Stored program control|computerized]] telephone dialing systems, many [[telephone call]]s which previously required
As well as the people that were employed by the public networks, operators were required at [[private branch exchange|private branch exchanges (PBX)]] to answer incoming [[telephone call|calls]]
▲As well as the people that were employed by the public networks, operators were required at [[private branch exchange|private branch exchanges (PBX)]] to answer incoming [[telephone call]]s and connect them to the correct [[extension (telephone)|extension]]. Today, most large organizations have direct-dial extensions. Smaller workplaces may have an automated system which allows callers to enter the extension of the called party, or a [[receptionist]] who answers calls and performs operator duties. Depending on the employment setting, the roles and level of responsibilities of a PBX operator can vary greatly, from performing [[Wake-up call (service)|wake-up calls]] in a hotel to coordinating emergency responses, dispatching, and overhead paging in hospitals. Operators employed in healthcare settings have other duties, such as [[data entry clerk|data entry]], [[Receptionist|greeting patients]] and visitors, taking messages, triaging, or acting as an after hours [[answering service]]. Experienced, well-trained operators generally command a higher salary.
[[File:Bell telephone magazine (1922) (14776291573).jpg|thumb|New York telephone exchange in the 1880s, with both men and women as operators]]
[[File:Bureau téléphonique parisien vers 1900.jpg|thumb|Paris telephone exchange, 1900]]
==History==
[[File:Telefonister, Stockholms telefonsstation - Nordiska Museet - NMA.0037077.jpg|thumb|Telephone operators in [[Stockholm]], Sweden 1902–1903
In January 1878 George Willard Croy became the world's first telephone operator when he started working for the Boston Telephone Dispatch company.<ref name="Google Books">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2mMzS0hCkAC&q=%22emma+nutt%22+telephone+operator&pg=PA696|title=The Telecommunications Illustrated Dictionary, Second Edition|isbn=9781420040678|last1=Petersen|first1=J. K.|date=29 May 2002}}</ref>
[[File:A Telephone Operator.png|thumb|right|United States phone operator in 1911
[[Emma Nutt]] became the first female telephone operator on 1 September 1878 when she started working for the Boston Telephone Dispatch company, because the attitude and behaviour of the teenage boys previously employed as operators was unacceptable.<ref name="ATT 1">{{cite
In the United States, any switchboard operator employed by
[[Harriot Daley]] became the first telephone switchboard operator at the [[United States Capitol]] in 1898.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/obituaries/overlooked-harriott-daley.html|title=Overlooked No More: Harriott Daley, the Capitol's First Telephone Operator|last=Jacobs|first=Andrea|date=19 April 2018|work=New York Times|access-date=2018-04-20|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/hec.23122/ |title=First Capitol telephone operator still on job. Washington, D.C., July 30. When Miss Harriot Daley was appointed telephone operator at the United States Capitol in 1898 there were only 51 stations on the switchboard. Today Miss Daley is Chief Operator and supervises a staff of 37 operators as they answer calls from 1200 extensions. The picture above shows the present switchboard with Miss Daley still on the job, 7/30/37
Women of the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit, American bilingual female switchboard operators in [[World War I]], were known colloquially as [[Hello Girls]] and were not formally recognized for their military service until 1978.▼
[[Julia O'Connor]], a former telephone operator, led the Telephone Operators' Strike of 1919 and the Telephone Operators' Strike of 1923 against [[Verizon New England|New England Telephone Company]] on behalf of the [[International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers|IBEW]] Telephone Operators' Department for better wages and working conditions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Norwood |first=Stephen H. |title=Labor's Flaming Youth: Telephone Operators and Worker Militancy, 1878-1923 |place=Urbana and Chicago, IL |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1990 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpJAAAAAMAAJ&q=Labor's+Flaming+Youth |pages=180–193|isbn=0-252-01633-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title= Telephone Strike Won by Workers | work= New York Times, April 21, 1919 | url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/04/21/118147542.pdf | access-date= 2011-04-17 | date=April 21, 1919}}</ref><ref name="Norwood, pp. 262-291">Norwood, ''Labor's Flaming Youth'', pp. 262-291</ref> In the 1919 strike, after five days, Postmaster General Burleson agreed to negotiate an agreement between the union and the telephone company, resulting in an increase in pay for the operators and recognition of the right to bargain collectively.<ref>Norwood, ''Labor's Flaming Youth'', pp. 180-193</ref><ref>{{cite news | title= Telephone Strike Won by Workers | work= New York Times, April 21, 1919 | url= https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/04/21/118147542.pdf | access-date= 2011-04-17 | date=April 21, 1919}}</ref> However, the 1923 strike was called off after less than a month without achieving any of its goals.<ref name="Norwood, pp. 262-291"/>
In 1983, in [[Bryant Pond, Maine]], Susan Glines became the last switchboard operator for a hand-crank phone when that exchange was converted
▲In the United States, any switchboard operator employed by an independently owned public telephone company which had not more than seven hundred and fifty stations was excluded from the [[Equal Pay Act of 1963]].
According to a 2024 study, the mechanization of switchboard operations harmed the economic outcomes of incumbent telephone operators, but did not harm the employment prospects of young women overall, as future cohorts of young women entered into other growing economic sectors.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2024 |title=Answering the Call of Automation: How the Labor Market Adjusted to Mechanizing Telephone Operation |doi=10.1093/qje/qjae005 |journal=[[Quarterly Journal of Economics]]}}</ref>
▲In 1983, in [[Bryant Pond, Maine]], Susan Glines became the last switchboard operator for a hand-crank phone when that exchange was converted;<ref>{{cite web|title=Goodbye, Central: Crank Phone Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/12/us/goodbye-central-crank-phone-dies.html|work=New York Times|access-date=23 May 2014}}</ref> manual central office switchboards continued in operation at rural points like [[Kerman, California]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1991-04-08/news/mn-130_1_manual-switchboard|title=Pulling the Plug : Phone Company to Replace Last Manual Switchboard|work=latimes}}</ref> and [[Wanaaring, New South Wales]], as late as 1991, but these were central-battery systems with no hand-cranked magnetos.
==Reality and fiction==
Before the 1960s, the [[telephone exchange]] with telephone switchboards and operators played a crucial role in connecting phone calls. A telephone switchboard is a device that allows telephone lines to be interconnected, enabling the routing of calls between different phones or phone networks.<ref>Milton Mueller, "The switchboard problem: scale, signaling, and organization in manual telephone switching, 1877-1897." ''Technology and Culture'' 30.3 (1989): 534-560.</ref> The switchboard operator was a person who manually connected calls by plugging and unplugging cords on the switchboard. The role of the switchboard and operator was important because they were responsible for connecting callers with the correct party and ensuring that calls were completed correctly. They also provided assistance with making long-distance calls, directory assistance, and other services related to the use of the telephone network. Dial phones were invented in the 1930s but took years to become standard. New Hampshire switched to dials town by town from 1950 to 1973.<ref>Judith N. Moyer, "Number, please: New Hampshire telephone operators in the predial era, 1877–1973" (PhD dissertation,. University of New Hampshire, 2000) [https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3141&context=dissertation online] p. 21.</ref> Switchboards and operators were an integral part of the telecommunications system until the introduction of electronic switching systems in the mid-20th century.
[[Dorothy M. Johnson]], who later became a famous writer, started as a part-time relief operator at age 14 in [[Whitefish, Montana]], in the early 1920s. It was attractive opportunity for ambitious young women in a small logging town out West who needed money for college. The role demanded quick decision-making, meticulous attention to detail, a very good memory for names, and the ability to handle criticism. Switchboard technology was a physically demanding task, involving numerous plugs, keys, lights, connecting cords, and complicated protocols for establishing connections. The full-time operators were on duty 56 hours per week, and while they often grumbled about being overworked by a harsh boss, they were reasonably compensated at $50 a month.<ref>Dorothy M. Johnson, "Confessions of a Telephone Girl" ''Montana: The Magazine of Western History'' 47.4 (1997): 68-75. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4520017 online]</ref>
While many of the functions of the switchboard and operator have been automated, telephone operators still play a role in some contexts, such as in emergency services or customer support centers.<ref>Michael J. Muller, "Invisible work of telephone operators: An ethnocritical analysis." ''Computer Supported Cooperative Work'' (CSCW) 8.1-2 (1999): 31-61.</ref> Thus according to a 1995 study by Muller et al., the operators who provide directory assistance, "serve as experts in a variety of domains of relevance to their customers' lives, helping them to navigate through government agencies, complex business hierarchies, partially remembered geographies, and dynamic changes in their customers' worlds."<ref>Michael J. Muller et al. "Telephone Operators as Knowledge Workers: Consultants Who Meet Customer Needs" p. 130.</ref>
▲The most famous group of American operators were in the "Women of the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit
In actuality, operators were rule-followers, but according to April Middeljans, in American drama, film, and magazines, they were often portrayed as rule-breaking rebels who challenged societal norms. Through disaster tales, detective stories, and romantic comedies, fiction writers suggest that operators were not just controlled by society, but rather played an active role in regulating it and shaping the lives of their clients and themselves. The female protagonists in these stories were motivated by their curiosity and empathy, and valued human connections over automated ones. By utilizing the switchboard's power, they aimed to achieve their own ideals of societal betterment. These stories reflect a deep admiration for strong female leads and a preference for human ingenuity and decision-making over machine efficiency.<ref>April Middeljans, " 'Weavers of Speech': Telephone Operators as Defiant Domestics in American Literature and Culture." ''Journal of Modern Literature,'' 33#3, (2010), pp. 38–63.</ref>
==See also==
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* [[Telephone operator (disambiguation)]]
* [[Telephone switchboard]]
* [[Telephone in United States history]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* Fischer, Claude S. ''America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940'' (1992), a major scholarly history.
* Green, Venus. “Goodbye Central: Automation and the Decline of ‘Personal Service’ in the Bell System, 1878–1921.” ''Technology and Culture'' 36#4 (1995), pp. 912–49. [https://doi.org/10.2307/3106919 online]
* Kramarae, Cheris and Lana F. Rakow, eds. ''Technology and women's voices: keeping in touch'' (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988)
* Lipartito, Kenneth. “When Women Were Switches: Technology, Work, and Gender in the Telephone Industry, 1890-1920.” ''American Historical Review'' 99#4 (1994) pp. 1074–111. [https://doi.org/10.2307/2168770 ONLINE]
* Mueller, Milton. "The switchboard problem: scale, signaling, and organization in manual telephone switching, 1877-1897." ''Technology and Culture'' 30.3 (1989): 534–560. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3105950 online]
* Muller, Michael J., et al. "Telephone operators as knowledge workers: Consultants who meet customer needs." ''Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems'' (1995).
* Munn, Luke. "Subordinated to Oneself: The Switchboard Operator as Early Self Manager." ''Junctions: Graduate Journal of the Humanities'' 4.2 (2019). [https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:34682/CONTENT/58-339-1-pb.pdf/ online]
* Rakow, Lana F. "Women and the telephone: the gendering of a communications technology." in ''Technology and women’s voices: Keeping in touch'' (1988) pp: 171–199. [https://frauenkultur.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Technology-and-Womens-Voices.pdf#page=191 online]
==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Telephone operators}}
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