Alexander Graham Bell presented his talking machine at the World Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, and direct person-to-person conversation suddenly became possible across long distances. How has the telephone changed human communication?

This section of the exhibition examines what and who is required to make a telephone call possible.

«The Lady at the Exchange»

Technological developments have often created new jobs, but have also made people redundant. The playlet «The Lady at the Exchange» presents fade-ins in which the virtual telephone operator Miss Hofstetter tells visitors about her work and how she related to customers between 1885 and 1930, how things changed, and how the introduction of automatic exchanges caused her to lose her job as a telephone operator.

The virtual show will teach visitors how a manual

exchange worked – Miss Hofstetter uses

one featured in the exhibition.