Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
A64473-4
Date(s)
- 1952-01-30 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
One of the switchboards at Pacific Telephone and Telegraph is shown with no connections made between an incoming call and the person they are calling. The connector wires are seen handing down in front of the switchboard. An incoming call would be indicated by a light coming on above the open line. The operator then connected the cable to the open hole below the light, found out with whom the caller wanted to speak, and then connected a second cable to the open line of the person being called. A busy line was indicated by a cable already being connected in that line's location. The operators were skilled at what became known as "multitasking" in the 1990's. TPL-9287
Telephone switchboards--Tacoma; Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. (Tacoma);