The creation of telephones has changed the world completely. Now, people do not have to depend too much writing letters in order to communicate with a loved one. The image above shows a young lady talking on the phone freely. Those from an upper class were privileged to have a phone in their household and were able to use it as often as they pleased. Many people of the lower class did not have a phone of their own and would either have to secretly use the phone of their master or write letters.

Irene was constantly telling her servant, Liza, to “take the message” for her. Irene and her husband, Brian were from the wealthy class. Normally, wealthy people were seen to have a colored servant in their household. It was interesting to see how Irene was telling her servant to answer and take the message for her. A servant can be defined as a person who is paid to be at service. Those of a lower class did not have servants, but they were most likely the ones serving. This is important because there is a clear distinction between classes.

Source:

“Communications, Telephone Exchange.” MCNY Collections Portal, collections.mcny.org/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYW5ZC5A2M&SMLS=1&RW=1438&RH=762.