Before smartphones, most people kept in touch using landline telephones. And before direct dialing was common, some calls were handled by switchboard operators. During the 1950s, more than 220,000 ...

Marie Scott vividly recalls the horrifying sounds of D-Day as she relayed orders down the line to the troops storming the Normandy beaches. She was only 17 and one of nine women transmitting critical ...

Before smartphones, landline telephones were the way most people kept in touch. And until direct dialing became common, a switchboard operator's assistance was often needed to help with long-distance ...

A telephone switchboard and its operator in 1935. (Source: Library of Congress) During his 77 years, Dennis Hall has seen a lot of changes in rural communications. More than that, he’s lived those ...

They're still at it after 32 years: Their monthly "eat out" get-together followed by "Crazy Sevens," plugged together with stories from their days as telephone switchboard operators, such as of the ...

The rise of generative AI — and ChatGPT in particular — has raised a lot of alarm bells in some industries worried that the technology could make many humans’ jobs obsolete. And those concerns are ...

Led by 25-year-old Grace Banker, 32 telephone operators — affectionately called “Hello Girls” back in the United States — became the first female combatants in World War I. It’s all in author Claudia ...

Mike Lazer-Walker has repurposed a 1927 Western Electric 551-A switchboard into a hectic game that tasks players with quickly learning the obsolete job. “Hello, Operator!,” although controlled by a ...

With a 1-year-old daughter and a recently laid-off husband, Minnie Carver needed a job, so in May 1968, she started as a switchboard operator at Blount Memorial Hospital. She will retire at the end of ...