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{{Short description|Former telephony occupation}}
{{multiple issues|
[[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]]
{{original research|date=April 2012}}
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]].
{{refimprove|date=April 2012}}
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==Description==
[[File:Telephone operators, 1952.jpg|thumb|Telephone operators, 1952]]
InA thetypical earlymanual daystelephone ofswitchboard telephony,has througha roughlyvertical thepanel 1960s,containing companiesan usedarray manualof [[telephonejacks switchboard]]swith anda '''switchboarddesk operators'''in connectedfront. eachThe calldesk by insertinghas a pairrow of [[Phoneswitches connectorand (audio)|phonetwo plug]]srows of plugs attached to cables that retract into the appropriatedesk jacks.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 generator[[telephone onmagneto|magneto]] to alert the phonecentral office and, later, to be"ring crankedoff" bythe handcompleted 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|Directdirect Dialdial]] (DDD) calling, a switchboard operatorsoperator would work with their counterparts in the distant central office to complete [[long -distance call]]s. With the development of [[Stored Program Control exchange|computerized]] telephone dialing systems, many [[telephone call]]s which previously required a live operator can be placed automatically by the [[calling party]] without additional human intervention. Switchboard operators are typically required to have very strong communication skills.<ref>Principles of Hotel Front Office Operations - Page 55, Sue Baker, Pam Bradley, Jeremy Huyton - 2001</ref><ref>Kaplan Civil Service Exams - Page xii, Kaplan - 2008</ref>
 
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 Centralcentral Officeoffice 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 Dialdial, 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 live operators could be placed directly by [[calling party|calling parties]] without additional human intervention.▼
==Summary==
▲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.
 
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]] and connect them to the correct [[extension (telephone)|extensionextensions]]. Today, most large organizations have ''[[direct-dial extensions.inward dialing]]'', or ''direct dial-in''. Smaller workplaces may have an automated system which allows callers to enter the extension number 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 may have other duties, such as [[data entry clerk|data entry]], [[Receptionist|greeting patients]] and visitors, taking messages, triaging, or acting as anperforming after -hours [[answering service]]. Experienced, well -trained operators generally command a higher salarysalaries.▼
As well as those employed by the public networks, operators were required at [[private branch exchange]]s 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 DespatchDispatch company.<ref name="Google Books">[http{{cite book|url=https://books.google.co.ukcom/books?id=b2mMzS0hCkAC&pg=PA696&lpg=PA696&dqq=%22emma+nutt%22+telephone+operator&sourcepg=bl&otsPA696|title=kKYQAmoXhW&sig=GEOi4yd-4NQnw3T4cb2mtOkBNRY&hl=en&ei=3bKTSo_9DqOZjAf496HzDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9#v=onepage&q=%22emma%20nutt%22%20telephone%20operator&f=falseThe JulieTelecommunications K.Illustrated PetersenDictionary, "TheSecond telecommunicationsEdition|isbn=9781420040678|last1=Petersen|first1=J. illustratedK.|date=29 dictionary"May (2002), p. 696]}}</ref>▼
 
[[File:A Telephone Operator.png|thumb|right|United States phone operator in 1911]]
▲In January 1878 George Willard Croy became the world's first telephone operator when he started working for the Boston Telephone Despatch company.<ref name="Google Books">[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b2mMzS0hCkAC&pg=PA696&lpg=PA696&dq=%22emma+nutt%22+telephone+operator&source=bl&ots=kKYQAmoXhW&sig=GEOi4yd-4NQnw3T4cb2mtOkBNRY&hl=en&ei=3bKTSo_9DqOZjAf496HzDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9#v=onepage&q=%22emma%20nutt%22%20telephone%20operator&f=false Julie K. Petersen, "The telecommunications illustrated dictionary" (2002), p. 696]</ref>
[[Emma Nutt]] became the world's 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 press release |url=http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=20902 AT&T, Media Info, |title=SBC Michigan Recognizes 125 Years of Telephone Operators,; Personal Service, Michigan,Availability SanAre Antonio,Hallmarks Texas,of OctoberCommunications 31,Professionals 2003|url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608014824/http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=20902 |archive-date=8 June 2011 |work=[[AT&T]]}}</ref> Emma was hired by [[Alexander Graham Bell]],<ref name="Google Books"/> and, reportedly, could remember every number in the telephone directory of the [[New England Telephone and Telegraph Company|New England Telephone Company]].<ref name="Google Books"/><ref name="ATT 1"/> More women began to replace men within this sector of the workforce for several reasons. The companies observed that women were generally more courteous to callers, and women's labor was cheap in comparison to men's. Specifically, women were paid from one half to one quarter of a man's salary.<ref name="Rakow 171–199">{{cite journal |journal=Technology and Women's Voices: Keeping in Touch |last=Rakow |first=Lana |author-link=Lana Rakow |title=Women and the Telephone: The Gendering of a Communications Technology |url=https://frauenkultur.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Technology-and-Womens-Voices.pdf#page=191 |pages=171–199}}</ref>▼
In the United States, any switchboard operator employed by anany independently owned public telephone company whichwith has notno more than seven hundred and fifty stations waswere excluded from the [[Equal Pay Act of 1963]].▼
 
[[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 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=2018-04-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/the-upsides-to-working-without-internet-access-for-80-days/255606/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414004123/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/the-upsides-to-working-without-internet-access-for-80-days/255606/ |archive-date=2012-04-14 |title=The Upsides to Working Without Internet Access for 80 Days |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |date=2012-04-09 |access-date=2023-09-11}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
▲[[Emma Nutt]] became the world's 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">[http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=20902 AT&T, Media Info, SBC Michigan Recognizes 125 Years of Telephone Operators, Personal Service, Michigan, San Antonio, Texas, October 31, 2003]</ref> Emma was hired by [[Alexander Graham Bell]],<ref name="Google Books"/> and reportedly, could remember every number in the telephone directory of the [[New England Telephone and Telegraph Company|New England Telephone Company]].<ref name="Google Books"/>
 
[[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 the United States, any switchboard operator employed by an independently owned public telephone company which has not more than seven hundred and fifty stations was excluded from the Equal Pay Act of 1963
 
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 news|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|date=12 October 1983 |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=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=8 April 1991 }}</ref> and [[Wanaaring, New South Wales]], as late as 1991, but these were central-battery systems with no hand-cranked magnetos.
==Women as Switchboard Operators==
[[Emma Nutt]] became the world's first female telephone operator on 1 September 1878 when she started working for the [[Boston Telephone Dispatch company]].<ref name="ATT 1"/> More women began to replace men within this sector of the workforce for several reason. One being that women's ettiquette was deemed more appropriate than men's in regards to politeness. However, a huge factor contributing to women entering this workforce was because women's labour was cheap in comparison to men's. Specifically, women were paid from one half to one quarter of a man's salary.<ref name="Rakow 207–225">{{cite journal|last=Rakow|first=Lana|title=Women and the Telephone: The Genderin gof a Communications Technology|pages=207–225}}</ref>
 
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>
Furthermore, not all women were selected for the position of a switchboard operator. The majority of females that received this position were classified as young, attractive, and single to portray the appropriate image as "a weaver of speech" that society held of switchboard operators. Media portraying the workers through sexualized images of "All American Girls" was a popular media tactic deployed by telephone industry advertisers and public relations. These images and portrayal of women decreased and helped mend the gap between private and public sphere life; however, at the same time, degraded women in the process; whereas men were easily accepted into both spheres. Therefore, for adverstisement reasons and acceptance of women into the public sphere, switchboard operators were perceived and constructed to be "innocent and efficient, desirable yet unattainable, businesslike but adapt as soothing the harried and demanding captain of industry of the public sphere as well as the stereotypically portrayed petty and demanding matron of the private sphere." (214). Although the telephone provided opportunity and, some would argue liberation, into the work force, there were restrictions that disabled women to be themselves. For instance, their script was very script and encouraged only a few statements that could be exchanged between operator and customer.<ref name="Rakow 207–225"/>
 
==Reality and fiction==
Ultimately, from an outside perspective, analyzing women as switchboard operators at a 'surface level', their increase participation in the public work sphere is beneficial and liberating. However, after analysing the telephone and its implications we can understand how there are patriarchal, gendered associations that come with it that contribute to the hierarchy of society. For instance, the telephone was viewed as a gateway that separated individuals, the same way a front door separates. It was viewed that the 'servant' should be the one to screen intrusions in regards to a ringing door. Similarly, the telephone was a viewed as a device that should be answered by a servant. Having women act as switchboard operators, labelled them as servants and reorganized them within society's hiearchy.<ref name="Rakow 207–225"/>
 
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" of the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] in 1917–1919. They were bilingual female switchboard operators sent to France in the World War I. The 223 women were known informally as [[Hello Girls]] and were not formally recognized for their military service until 1978.<ref>Elizabeth Cobbs, ''The hello girls: America's first women soldiers'' (Harvard University Press, 2017).</ref>
 
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==
* [[Attendant console]]
* [[Operator assistance]] (includes access numbers)
* [[Private branch exchange]]
* [[Telephone switchboard]]▼
* [[Telephone operator (disambiguation)]]
▲* [[Telephone switchboard]]
* [[Telephone in United States history]]
 
==References==
{{reflistReflist}}
 
==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.&nbsp;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==
*{{commonsCommons category-inline|Telephone operators}}
<!-- * [http://pbskids.org/wayback/tech1900/phone.html Early telephone operators] Dead Link -->
*{{youTube|IOEOM4S6vgA|AT&T Archives: Operator! (1938)}}
 
{{Telecommunications}}
{{Authority control}}
 
[[Category:Business and financial operations occupations]]
[[Category:Obsolete occupations]]
 
[[ru:Телефонистка]]
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