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Completes Thirty Years of Service as Telephone Operator in the Capitol, Washington, D.C.

Black and white photograph of the Capitol switchboard. Harriott G. Daley stands next to telephone operators and the switchboard. Six operators are visible, wearing headphones, facing the switchboard with lights, cords, and holes./tiles/collection/1/12684.xml
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Reverse of photograph with maker’s information and caption reading, “Completes Thirty Years of Service as Telephone Operator in the Capitol, Washington, D.C. Miss H.G. Daley, who completed thirty-years of service as a telephone operator at the Capitol Building, Washington. Miss Daley began work in 1898, then being an operator with a switchboard of only fifty extensions, now she controls over one thousand extensions, and directs twenty five operators.”/tiles/collection/1/16256.xml
Download this image
Black and white photograph of the Capitol switchboard. Harriott G. Daley stands next to telephone operators and the switchboard. Six operators are visible, wearing headphones, facing the switchboard with lights, cords, and holes.
Reverse of photograph with maker’s information and caption reading, “Completes Thirty Years of Service as Telephone Operator in the Capitol, Washington, D.C. Miss H.G. Daley, who completed thirty-years of service as a telephone operator at the Capitol Building, Washington. Miss Daley began work in 1898, then being an operator with a switchboard of only fifty extensions, now she controls over one thousand extensions, and directs twenty five operators.”
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Date

1928-12-21

Maker

Acme Newspictures, Inc.

Dimensions

6 1/2 × 8 1/2 in. (16.5 × 21.6 cm)

Accession Number

PA2015.01.0049

Credit Line

Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Object Details

Harriott G. Daley became the first Capitol switchboard operator in 1898, answering fewer than 200 calls per day. Operators, known as “hello girls,” were trusted to handle the most sensitive political phone calls without eavesdropping. Mrs. Daley “must have a lot of interesting recollections,” the Washington Post remarked, “since she is in the top telephone spot in the Nation.” By 1926, the switchboard handled 30,000 calls each day. She retired in 1945, after 47 years connecting the calls of Congress.

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Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk: art@mail.house.gov, archives@mail.house.gov