Clarksburg telephone flip-file
date: label: date made
content: ca 1982
name: label: maker
content: Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Dymo label: "T6 Clarksburg W. VA." A metal file with 25 rows of plastic sleeves, 6 sleeves per row. Each sleeve in the first 21 rows contains a paper card with telephone numbers, domestic and international area codes, and other information a telephone operator might need. Eighteen cards are labeled "Blank". Rubber strips on bottom. The Clarksburg exchange was part of the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company (C&P) prior to the breakup of the Bell monopoly. That system later became part of Verizon.
label: Description (Brief)
content: For most of the first century of the telephone business, systems relied on human (usually female) operators to assist subscribers and connect calls. Even the introduction of automatic dialing systems did not displace human operators. This flip-file was made as a reference tool for operators, allowing them to quickly find international calling codes, emergency numbers, and various other data they might need in the course of daily operations. Eventually, paper files such as this were replaced by computer data systems, accessed via a keyboard.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0278.16
label: accession number
content: 2022.0278
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0278.16
objectType: label: Object Name
content: card file
label: Object Name
content: telephone directory
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 3/4 in x 5 3/4 in x 13 in; 9.525 cm x 14.605 cm x 33.02 cm