telegraphist

thumb|Telegrapher, dated before 1927 from the Tropenmuseum collection A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is a person who uses a telegraph key to send and receive Morse code messages in a telegraphy system. These messages, also called telegrams, can be transmitted electronically by land lines, or wirelessly by radio.

==History== After electric telegraphy became available, companies or public entities offered telegram services - delivering telegraphed messages directly to the recipient. Earlier optical systems were largely limited to official government and military purposes. Historically, telegrams were sent between a network of interconnected telegraph offices which were staffed by telegraphists.