 BL182 |
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| Pictured here in photograph, taken in 1924, are Carolina Telephone Company switchboard operators busy at work. They answered incoming telephone calls and connected them manually to the parties being called. All local and long-distance calls were placed through the operators at the switchboard. In the early days of telephones, there was an operator on the line every time the receiver was lifted. Pushbutton and dial-type phones were nonexistent. Calling was a collaborative event where it was necessary to ask to operator to connect each call from the switchboard. |