Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D9484-8
Date(s)
- 1940-03-05 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
(1919-1980)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Gracie Copeland, the telephone operator and public relations "queen-pin" of the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Co. was photographed at her switchboard in March of 1940. She was one of the first employees hired by the company in 1939 when they won their first big contract to build ships in Tacoma. No one could talk to a manager, or get a message to any of the yard's over 450 employees without going through Gracie. And like every other shipyard employee, she had her own workmans helmet which she wore without fail whenever she went out to the yard. She also wore it to protect her copper-colored curls from the rain when she stepped across the street from the office to buy a hamburger. (T. Times 3/18/1940 p.1)