Communication, early-mid 20th Century: Site Contents
Before today’s instant communication, keeping in touch was usually much slower and often much less convenient than we now take for granted. Letters had to be written, posted and waited for; telephone calls could be difficult or expensive; and urgent messages were sometimes sent by telegram. Even producing extra copies of documents or preparing material for meetings involved methods and equipment which now seem remarkably cumbersome.
The pages in this section describe some of the ways people communicated during the first part of the 20th century, both at home and at work. As elsewhere on this website, the emphasis is mainly on ordinary everyday experiences rather than on technical developments. Included are memories and descriptions of letter-writing, telephones, typewriters, duplicating methods, public address systems and other forms of communication which were once familiar parts of daily life.
Many of these activities required patience, planning and quite a lot of effort. Yet at the time they were accepted as normal, and people developed skills and routines around them which are now largely forgotten.
Scroll down for clickable links to individual pages which are shown under descriptive headings.
Telephones and Telegrams
Letters
Document Duplication
and Group Presentations
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