![]() ![]() How to read the yellow pages phone book: A phone directory workbook for kids (1982)Įxcerpted from Reading the Yellow Pages activity workbook By 1883, Cheyenne had 115 phones and still probably a single-page directory. ![]() The “directory” consisted of a single page printed on one side - a column listing the 100 persons in Cheyenne who had phones, flanked by classified ads, the department said. In 1969, the telephone company reproduced the Cheyenne directory of 1882, a year earlier. That unidentified Cheyenne printer probably only printed a “yellow page” instead of Yellow Pages, however, according to information from the Wyoming Archives and Historical Department. The ‘yellow’ was added five years later, apparently by a printer in Cheyenne, Wyo., who ran out of regular white stock.” Said the Journal article, “Classified directories have been around since the first list of telephone subscribers was published by the New Haven District Telephone Co. Those yellow pages in the back of the telephone directory have a supply-poor Cheyenne printer to thank for their origin, according to an article in the January 19 Wall Street Journal. That’s a pretty hefty price tag for a bunch of phone numbers that don’t even work anymore… □ Vintage New Hampshire Yellow Pages phone directory page for dance studios (1961) Why the Yellow Pages phone book is printed on yellow paper (1971)įrom the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming) February 23, 1971 It was expected to sell for between $30,000 and $40,000, but when the bidding ended, the cost had reached $170,500. One rare copy of the first edition of this phone book was sold at an auction by Christie’s in 2008. It was still only 40 pages (20 pieces of paper), and included phone directions, advertisements, a list of the 391 phone subscribers at the time, and some short essays on the technology of the era. In the days before you were able to dial your own telephone, all calls went through a switchboard operator, so just a list was enough.Ī more formal telephone directory was produced in Connecticut in November 1878. Something that was missing from this phone book? Phone numbers. It listed just 50 subscribers, who paid to have their names and addresses listed in the directory. The first classified telephone directory, consisting of a single piece of paper, was published on February 21, 1878, by the New Haven District Telephone Company in Connecticut. The book was as useful as it was ubiquitous - and it was easy to take for granted, since it was always at hand when we needed to “let our fingers do the walking.” For those of us who lived any portion of our lives when the Yellow Pages phone book was an essential community resource - could we ever have imagined a day when they were largely obsolete?Įvery issue of the local Yellow Pages phone book was cataloged at the library, and up-to-date copies were absolutely everywhere: every home, every business, chained up at every pay phone, etc. ![]()
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