Postal Telegrpah Company Teletype, 1940

FSA Photograph by Jack Delano

This photograph was taken by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. It is in the "Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Black and White Negatives" collection of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division . It is in the public domain (as are the versions of it here).

The thumbnail version is linked-to is a full resolution PNG that I have created from the original TIFF downloaded from the L of C. Regrettably, for this photograph the highest-resolution digital version available from the Library of Congress is not very high resolution. Since the Library of Congress URLs have changed at least once, instead of citing the URL of the original image, I'll cite the call number.

The Postal Telegraph-Cable Company is perhaps not well remembered. The best source for information that I've found is Bill McLaughlin's site on "Clarance H. Mackay, Harbor Hill and the Postal Telegraph": http://www.mackayhistory.com/ . It had a complex history. It began in the 1880s, and for a time in the 20th century was a part of IT&T. At the time this photograph was taken in June of 1940, it had left IT&T ownership and been split into the Postal Telegraph Company (landlines) and American Cable and Radio Corporation (radio, submarine cable). Three years later, in 1943, the Postal Telegraph Company merged with Western Union.

[click image to view larger]

Postal Telegraph & Cable Co., 1940

"Direct postal telegraph wire at a truck service station on U.S. 1 (New York Avenue), Washington, D.C." Call Number: LC-USF33- 020650-M1 [P&P]. June, 1940.

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