AT&T Archives: A Voice for the Farm

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First, this film tells the story behind the story, of how Bell System engineers saw and studied the problems of communications on typical farms. The farm, at the time, differed from other businesses, as they are, it is spread out but managed by few. At the time, a family farmer sometimes had to dash back and forth to the house 20 times a day to answer the phone, call the vet, make arrangements for deliveries of supplies, or answer questions on prices.

Bell engineers came up with a farm system for handling calls and intercommunication from the house to the barn, shop, sheds, farmyard, and other locations. Most importantly, they tested it on more than 100 farms of all kinds for well over a year, and asked for comments. The farmers reported back, and their suggestions prompted further improvements. The film then shows how the system worked on typical farms, how it could be adapted to the needs of a particular type of farm, and how it saved the farmer and his household time, energy, and money.

Unfortunately, this effort was short-lived in usefulness. The number of family farms began to decrease drastically from the time this film was made, supplanted by larger-scale factory farms. Today there are about 2 million farms in the U.S., but their acreage averages 500 acres, as opposed to an approximate average 300 acres per farm around 1960.

Producer: Jamieson Film Company
Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJ

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