the Rolodex Throwback Thursday

Remember this?  Invented by Arnold Neustadter and Hildaur Neilsen in 1956, the Rolodex is a rotating file device used to store business and personal contact information.  The Rolodex user writes the contact information for a person or company on each card and then places them in alphabetical order.

I remember when I got my first full-time job as a Jr. High Intern, our Youth Ministry Office had a Rolodex and I couldn’t wait to look up all the contacts stored in there that my boss had been using for years!  I know, I’m a nerd like that, but it’s true.  I also remember when I was first married, we had a Rolodex in our home office for all the necessary businesses we needed or personal contacts like family or friends.

So what ever happened to the Rolodex?  Address books and DayTimers started replacing it, but eventually Palm Pilots and other smartphones began to eliminate the Rolodex.  Now, with “the cloud” the Rolodex is all but obsolete.  With all our contacts available almost anywhere we go now right at our fingertips, there is no need for this very useful tool from back in the day.  It now has become nothing more than paper mat.

What do you think?  Did you have one?  How useful was it to you back then?  Share your experiences below.