Just five years ago, if you needed a local product or service, you’d “let your fingers do the walking,” flipping through the Yellow Pages directory. But with the rise of digital search engines, online directories, and mobile apps, printed Yellow Pages have dwindled into nostalgia.

The storied history began in 1883, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, when a printer ran out of white paper while printing a telephone directory and completed the commercial listings on yellow paper instead. That unplanned yellow section caught on as a visual cue, and by 1886, Reuben H. Donnelley published the first official Yellow Pages directory for Chicago.

Over decades, the Yellow Pages became an essential advertising medium, connecting consumers to local businesses—plumbers, electricians, restaurants—with widespread physical distribution and massive ad revenue.

In the 1960s, New England artist Henry Alexander, a Swain School of Design alumnus who worked for the New England Telephone Company, created the “Walking Fingers” logo—two fingers “walking” across an open book. This visual became synonymous with the directory within a year.

Around the same time, the tagline “Let your fingers do the walking” was coined by the advertising agency Geers Gross in 1962, becoming a hallmark marketing message in national Yellow Pages campaigns throughout the 1970s.

Though AT&T never trademarked the iconic three-finger version, they recognized how widely it was used. Another variant later replaced it, but the original logo regained prominence when rival campaigns failed.

Today, when someone needs a plumber or a restaurant, they’re more likely to reach for their phone or keyboard than a directory. Yet the legacy endures: the walking fingers remain among the most recognizable logos in American pop culture, even if fading from daily notice.

This Sunday, September 14, our church will honor another enduring symbol—the cross—that time cannot erase. Join us for Holy Cross Sunday at our 9:30 AM worship service (please see the attached worship bulletin). You can look us up on our website at www.saintjohnslindy.com, and let your fingers—and your heart—do the walking to find your way to worship.

Blessings,

Pastor Marc