Celebrate Emma M. Nutt Day Every September 1
Every September 1 we celebrate Emma Mills Nutt.
Who the heck is that you ask?
She was the world’s first female telephone operator, and she started work on September 1, 1878. So now the 1st day in September is Emma M. Nutt Day.
As far as we can tell, this is not an official day in any way. We also don’t know who first thought to commemorate the date Emma first started working.
But that’s no reason not to salute the woman who showed the world (or at least the telephone companies) that sometimes a woman can do the job better than a man.
Yes. Better.
A Brief History of Telephone Operators
Today we tend to think of telephone operators as female … Well, when we think of them at all.
But the Boston Telephone Dispatch company originally hired boys as operators. Boys had done a great job as telegraphy operators, so it made sense to think they’d also be good telephone operators.
That thinking wasn’t completely wrong. But the boys tended to be impatient. And they cursed a lot … Not really the best attitude for any kind of customer service!
So the company decided to try female operators. And Emma was the first to start (her sister started working as an operator just a few hours after Emma).
Apparently customers liked Emma’s patience and soothing voice.
Pretty soon the operators were almost all women. But there were strict qualifications to become a telephone operator:
- Unmarried
- Between ages 17 and 26
- Tall enough to reach the top of the switchboard
But apparently you didn’t have to quit when you got to be older than 26 or if you got married. Emma loved her job so much she stayed at it for 33 years.
Emma was honored in 1998 by Preferred Voice Inc and Philips Electronics NV, which named the virtual receptionist system they created EMMA.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial and polite holiday.
How to Celebrate Emma M. Nutt Day
If you remember talking with telephone operators, take a moment today to silently thank them for the important jobs they did.
Don’t you sometimes wish you could reach a switchboard operator today? (No, Siri isn’t an acceptable substitute!).
Even if you’ve never spoken to a telephone operator, take a moment to think about how different communication was back then.
Perhaps try to be a little more like Emma today whenever you’re on the phone: calm and polite, no matter who’s on the other end!
You might also like to read and learn a little more about the telephone and early communications:
- The Telephone: Wiring America, by John Murphy
- Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone: The Invention That Changed Communication, by Samuel Willard Crompton
- The History of the Telephone, by Herbert Newton Casson (a free Kindle book, written in 1910)
What will you be doing for Emma M. Nutt Day this year?
[…] Emma M. Nutt Day: Celebrate the day the 1st female telephone operator started work back in 1878. Before her the operators were young men (who weren’t always good with customer service!). […]
[…] Emma M. Nutt Day: Celebrate the woman who showed the world (or at least the telephone companies) that women make better telephone operators than men. Because in 1878, when Emma became the very first female telephone operator, only boys were hired as phone operators. Apparently because they had been good telegraph operators. As it turned out, women had more patience when dealing with people on the other end of the phone. Shocking! 😁 […]