WGBH Openvault

American Experience; Telephone, The

01/17/1997

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Series

American Experience

Program

Telephone, The

Program Number

905

Series Description

Premiered October 1988 As television's longest-running, most-watched history series, American Experience brings to life the incredible characters and epic stories that helped form this nation. Now in its eighteenth season, the series has produced over 180 programs and garnered every major broadcast award. Series release date: 10/1988

Program Description

To Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson, their contraption -- dubbed the "Harmonic Telegraph" -- was a sure fire moneymaker; to others, like Mark Twain, it was more toy than triumph. But the invention caught on and by 1900, New York Telephone alone had more than 6,000 "Hello Girls" working the lines in "operating rooms." The telephone had been transformed from novelty into necessity.

Duration

00:56:46

Asset Type

Broadcast program

Media Type

Video

Genres

Documentary

Topics

History

Citation

Chicago: “American Experience; Telephone, The,” 01/17/1997, WGBH Media Library & Archives, accessed December 19, 2018, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F17A14CD869C4637BB8AA023F5F24936.

MLA: “American Experience; Telephone, The.” 01/17/1997. WGBH Media Library & Archives. Web. December 19, 2018. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F17A14CD869C4637BB8AA023F5F24936>.

APA: American Experience; Telephone, The. Boston, MA: WGBH Media Library & Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_F17A14CD869C4637BB8AA023F5F24936