The History of Phone Phreaking -- Historical Documents

Some Historical Documents

Below are some historical documents, many technical in nature, that played a role in the development of phone phreaking.

Secrets of the Little Blue Box by Ron Rosenbaum, Esquire, October 1971 (9.8 Mbytes) -- the article that introduced phreaking to the masses. (Thanks to Number 6 for sending me a much better scan of the article; the version I posted originally is here for posterity.)
For Whom Ma Bell Tolls Not by Maureen Orth, Los Angeles Times (and others), October 1971 (500 kbytes) -- a syndicated newspaper article that appeared at about the same time as the Esquire article.
Blue Boxes Spread from Phone Freaks to the Well-Heeled by Sanford L. Jacobs, Wall St. Journal, January 29, 1976, p. 1 (100 kbytes) -- a front-page Wall Street Journal story on the increasing popularity of blue boxes in the mid-1970s.

Signaling Systems for Control of Telephone Switching by Breen and Dahlbom, November 1960 (14 Mbytes) -- often cited as the article that gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Tone Ringing and Pushbutton Calling by Meacham, Power, and West, 1958 (2.4 Mbytes) -- an early description of a Touch-Tone telephone.
Crossbar Tandem as a Long Distance Switching System by Adam, 1956 (1.9 Mbyte).
In-Band Single-Frequency Signaling by Weaver and Newell, November 1954. (5 Mbytes)
Single-Frequency Signaling System for Supervision and Dialing over Long-Distance Telephone Trunks by Weaver and Newell, January 1951 (1.5 Mbytes) -- similar to the above but three years earlier.
Transistor Oscillator for Use in Multifrequency Pulsing Current Supply by Blount, November 1953 (1.6 Mbytes) -- a how-to for blue-box builders, straight from the horse's mouth.

The New Nation-Wide Telephone Numbering Plan by Myers, AIEE Transactions, 1961 (0.6 Mbyte) -- we're running out of area codes! But don't worry, the new plan will last us until "well into the next century."
Application of Multifrequency Pulsing in Switching by Dahlbom, Horton, and Moody, AIEE Transactions, 1949 (1 Mbyte) -- the first public description of the multifrequency signaling system that I'm aware of.
Dial Switching of Connecticut Toll Calls by Robb, Millard, and McPhee, Electrical Engineering (A.I.E.E.), July 1936 (1.9 Mbytes) -- a detailed description of how things worked in the really old days.

Many more documents will be posted here as time and resources permit.