Hello Girls subclass of switchboard operator
Hello Girls was the colloquial name for American female switchboard operators in World War I, formally known as the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit. During World War I, these switchboard operators were sworn into the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Until 1977 they were officially categorized as civilian "contract employees" of the US Army.This corps were formed in 1917 from a call by General John J. Pershing to improve the worsening state of communications on the Western front. Applicants had to be bilingual in English and French to ensure that orders would be heard by anyone. Over 7,000 women applied, but only 223 women were accepted. Many of these women were former switchboard operators or employees at telecommunications companies. They completed their Signal Corps training at Camp Franklin, now a part of Fort George G. Meade in Maryland.History of the term
Although the term "hello girls" may have been applied to the signaling corps, it did not originate there. Rather, the term was first coined for female telephone switchboard operators in the US, and was the common term used for women who would greet callers with "hello" when they rang the switchboard instead of dialing another telephone number directly. Published references to "hello girls" predating World War I include the following sentence from Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court written in 1889: "The humblest hello-girl along ten thousand miles of wire could teach gentleness, patience, modesty, manners, to the highest duchess in Arthur's land".  Another source referenced gifts that the "hello girls" received at Christmas-time from local businesses in Flint.
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