This promotional card of the Bell Telephone Company was one of a series produced to point out the many varied uses of the newly invented and still not universally used gadget the telephone. The post card, dated around 1903 and captioned Use the Bell Telephone When Servants Fail You, shows the lady of the house at her desk, while the departing cook, valise in hand, is seen through the window, departing in a huff. In the circle an employment agent, at her telephone and with a room full of prospective employees, converses on the merits of her applicants, and the supposition is that a new cook will soon be on the way to the job. Other cards in the Telephone series have such captions as A Doctor Quick and Into the Heart of the Shopping District by Bell Telephone. These scenes were painted by talented artists, lithographed in color by the thousands and passed out to customers and users here and throughout the country. Alexander Graham Bell's first crude telephone was patented in 1876 and exhibited at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, where it was received with incredulity and ridicule. Bell was called a crank who says he can talk through a wire. Kansas City Star, October 16, 1971.
Reproduction (printing, downloading, or copying) of images from Kansas City Public Library requires permission and payment for the following uses, whether digital or print: publication; reproduction of multiple copies; personal, non-educational purposes; and advertising or commercial purposes. Please order prints or digital files and pay use fees through this website. All images must be properly credited to: "Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri." Images and texts may be reproduced without prior permission only for purposes of temporary, private study, scholarship, or research. Those using these images and texts assume all responsibility for questions of copyright and privacy that may arise.
