Switchboards, Asbury Park, NJ, 1915

glass negative

PHOTOGRAPHS - GLASS NEGATIVES
Rosenfeld and Sons
USA, NJ, Asbury Park
1915-1916
overall: 8 x 10 in.; 20.32 x 25.4 cm

8 x 10 glass plate negative taken by Rosenfeld and Sons. Image taken as part of long term commissioned work and documentation for the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, ranging from 1910 through the 1940s. Interior view of the Asbury Park, NJ, central telephone office. View of mainly women telephone operators (two men visible), seen both at main switchboards and with telephone directories. Women operators seen seated at boards with their supervisors shadowing behind (with aprons). Directory assistance women in the foreground look through telephone directories, seen wearing headsets plugged into smaller boards. Central desks have workers seated with smaller switchboxes and headsets. Women are mainly wearing long black skirts with light tops and long hair tied loosely back in a bun. Some women are wearing all white, patterned jumpers, and striped blouses. The two men are both wearing dark suits, man to the left appears to be testing equipment, possibly making repairs. Handwritten on original negative sleeve: "3296 / 260--10 / Telephone Co. / Asbury Park Central Office / Box 260". Image taken in 1915 or 1916.

1984.187.3296

Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection