I am a Smith College graduate, twenty-five years of age, and for over two years have been an instructor in the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, being now assistant to the head of that department here in Chicago. I am thoroughly familiar with all branches of telephone work, having taught as well as operated on the long distance lines. I specialized in French in college with the idea of teaching it later on, and have kept up my reading of it more or less since. Have no dependents and enjoy good health.

- Elizabeth R. Roby, AEF Telephone Operator²

I have been employed in the Wilkes-Barre office of the Bell Telephone Company for nine years. Eight of which have been on toll work. The past two years I have been a toll supervisor.

I was born and raised in the United States, have a high school education. My age is twenty-six. My parents are both American citizens. I have one brother in the United States service.

- Jennie E. Conroy, AEF Telephone Operator³

     When historians describe the American woman who served overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) during World War I, they typically fall back on generalizations. The American women who served "over there" were white, single, well-educated, and from an urban area of the Northeast or West Coast of the United States. Most were gainfully employed before going to Europe, holding a teaching, clerical, or other position sui

for respectable white women of that period. Frequently, they were financially independent and lived on their own.⁴  While such generalizations are valuable, their obvious drawback is that they obscure the diversity of women serving in specific organizations. Also, such generalizations can prove misleading when applied to any one organization; what might be true for a YMCA worker might be false for a telephone operator.

     Only a limited amount of research has been done on any of the specific groups of the women who served in Europe during the First World War. Susan Zeiger's In Uncle Sam's Service (1999), Dorothy and Carl J. Schneider's Into the Breach (1991), and Lettie Gavin's American Women in World War I (1997) each provide an overview of American women's overseas service during the First Word War, but devote little more than a chapter to any specific organization. This article sets out to examine characteristics of the American female telephone operators who served the AEF in France. By examining the operators' skills, prewar occupations, education, age, marital status, place of residence, ethnic background, and motives for enlistment, it is possible to paint a fuller picture of these women and differentiate them from the women who served with other organizations. As expected, the operators fit the mold of the typical World War I female overseas worker in some areas, but break from it in others. By understanding who these women were, we gain a greater understanding of the backgrounds of women who served the United States during the First World War.