1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone…

1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company < >
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • Another image of 1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet by The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company

1938 S.F. / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY + Chinatown Telephone Exchange Booklet

1938 SAN FRANCISCO / OAKLAND CHINESE TELEPHONE DIRECTORY plus a CHINATOWN TELEPHONE EXCHANGE OFFICE Pamphlet.

The Telephone Directory is 6.5x9.5 inches, 34 pages. Entirely in Chinese except for the cover which has a Chinese and English title.

The Chinatown Telephone Office San Francisco is a single-fold four-page pamphlet, 3.75x5.75 inches.

Both the Telephone Directory and the laid-in booklet are in VERY GOOD condition, the Directory has some scrapes to the rear cover, otherwise both are just gently used, tight, bright, clean, clear and unmarked. Both are well preserved and very presentable.

About the CHINATOWN TELEPHONE OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO / the Chinatown Telephone Exchange (excerpts from various Internet sites):

******At the turn of the 20th century, as more and more homes and businesses began utilizing telephones, an issue arose in San Francisco. The white operators tasked with connecting calls around the city were struggling to understand the residents of Chinatown. Not only was this a source of frustration for the operators, it meant that the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company was failing an entire population of the city.

The phone company solved this problem by giving Chinatown its very own telephone exchange and dedicated set of operators. Not only did these operators need to memorize hundreds - and later thousands - of local phone numbers (and who they belonged to), they needed to do so in several different dialects. What's more, while each phone in San Francisco was being used roughly four times a day, the phones of Chinatown were a lot more active - used, on average, eight times a day.

The Chinese Telephone Exchange's switchboard operators, with their exceptional memory skills, quickly became a point of public fascination. For decades, spectators would frequently stop outside the Chinatown building's windows to watch the operators working. The exchange finally closed down in 1949, as more and more people installed phones that could be self-dialed at home. But for many, the fascination with this most unusual operation has persisted.******

Categories: Ephemera, Letters, Diaries, Papers, Scrapbooks, Genealogy, History - California, The West, Hawaii, Alaska
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