Rolodex

Rolodex 67236 rotary business card file

A Rolodex file used in the 1970s.

A Rolodex is a rotating file device used to store business contact information. Its name, a portmanteau of the words rolling and index, has become somewhat genericized (usually as rolodex) for any personal organizer performing this function, or as a metonym for the total of an individual's accumulated business contacts.

Overview[]

The Rolodex holds specially shaped index cards on which the user writes or types the contact information for one person or company. The cards are notched to snap in and out of the rotating spindle. Some users tape ordinary business cards directly to the Rolodex cards, or place them in plastic or vinyl sleeves in the shape of Rolodex cards. Some companies produced business cards in the shape of Rolodex cards, as a marketing tactic.

The Rolodex was invented in 1956 by Danish engineer Hildaur Neilsen, the chief engineer of Arnold Neustadter's company , a stationery manufacturer in New York.^[1]^[2] First marketed in 1958,^[3] it was an improvement to an earlier design called the Wheeldex. Zephyr American also invented, manufactured and sold the Autodex, a spring-operated phone directory that automatically opened to the selected letter; Swivodex, an inkwell that did not spill; Punchodex, a paper hole puncher; and Clipodex, an office aid that attached to a stenographer's knee.^[4]