AT&T Ad Showing a Man Using a Highway Emergency Phone, 1971

01

Artifact Overview

Some highway departments installed emergency telephones along heavily traveled routes in the 1960s. In an era before cell phones, this made calling for help a little easier -- if you didn't have to walk too far to find a phone.

Artifact Details

Artifact

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Date Made

1971

Subject Date

1971

Creator Notes

Made for AT & T (American Telephone & Telegraph)

Location

Not on exhibit to the public.

Object ID

2011.52.1

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Photomechanical processes

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 11 in
Width: 8.24 in (each page; total 16.5")

Inscriptions

Printed on right side page of ad at top: Now motorists along this solitary 95 mile stretch of / highway have someone to talk to. / Every half mile. Paragraph on right side page of ad in the middle reads in part: Interstate 80 runs through parts of Pennsylvania so / sparsely settled that bear and deer may still outnumber / people. / And interchanges are often ten miles apart. / Until recently this was no place for a stranded / motorist. / Now 370 roadside emergency telephones are helping / to make this section one of the safest highways in the state./ Each yellow call box is connected to one of the five State Police stations in the area. / ... /The American Telephone and Telegraph Company / and your local Bell Company cooperate with local, state / and Federal authorities to make the telephone serve you better. / In this case, to help make highways safer.
AT&T Ad Showing a Man Using a Highway Emergency Phone, 1971