Before smartphones, most people kept in touch using landline telephones. And before direct dialing was common, some calls were handled by switchboard operators. During the 1950s, more than 220,000 ...

In Gretchen Berg’s debut novel, "The Operator," a gossip-hungry telephone switchboard operator in 1950s Ohio listens in on calls. William Morrow In Gretchen Berg’s debut novel, The Operator, Vivian ...

The American workforce looked very different in the 1950s. Some jobs were so common, you couldn’t imagine a world without them. But once technology improved and daily life sped up, many of those roles ...