Emma Nutt

Updated on Nov 17, 2023

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Nationality American Occupation telephone operator		Name Emma Nutt Died 1915

Born July 1860 Perry, Maine Known for World's first female telephone operator Similar People Alexander Graham Bell , Guglielmo Marconi , Heinrich Hertz

Amazing Facts about EMMA M. NUTT, the World’s First Female Telephone Operator

Emma Busta Nutt (July 1851–1915) became the world's first female telephone operator on 1 September 1878 when she started working for the Edwin Holmes Telephone Despatch Company (or the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company) in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

A younger Emma Nutt smiling while operating some telephone lines with a corsage on her clothing.

September 1st: Telephonist Fail: Lynn Ferguson

Facts

She is known as the world's first female telephone operator.

On 1 September 1878, she started working for 'Edwin Holmes Telephone Despatch Company'.

A few hours after she started working, her sister, Stella Nutt, became the world's second female telephone operator.

She was paid a salary of $10 per month for a 54 hour work per week.

Emma was hired by Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the first practical telephone.

Life and career

Emma Nutt and two companions operating telephone lines and wearing long dresses.

In January 1878 the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company had started hiring boys as telephone operators, starting with George Willard Croy. Boys (reportedly including Emma's husband) had been very successful as telegraphy operators, but their attitude (lack of patience) and behaviour (pranks and cursing) were unacceptable for live phone contact, so the company began hiring women operators instead. Thus, on September 1, 1878 Emma was hired, starting a career that lasted between 33 and 37 years, ending with her retirement sometime between 1911 and 1915. A few hours after Emma started working, her sister, Stella Nutt, became the world's second female telephone operator, also making the pair the first two sister telephone operators in history. Unlike Emma, Stella only remained on the job for a few years.

A postcard featuring Emma Nutt and celebrating Emma Nutt Day which is celebrated every September 1.

The customer response to her soothing, cultured voice and patience was overwhelmingly positive, so boys were soon replaced by women. In 1879 these included Bessie Snow Balance, Emma Landon, Carrie Boldt, and Minnie Schumann, the first female operators in Michigan.

On left, Emma Nutt with hair kempt and wearing turtle neck dress. On right, Emma Nutt operating phone lines with companions.

Emma was hired by Alexander Graham Bell, who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone; apparently she changed jobs from a local telegraph office. She was paid a salary of $10 per month for a 54-hour week. Reportedly, she could remember every number in the telephone directory of the New England Telephone Company.

To be an operator, a woman had to be unmarried and between the ages of seventeen and twenty-six. She had to look prim and proper, and have arms long enough to reach the top of the tall Telephone switchboard. Like many other American businesses at the turn of the century, telephone companies discriminated against people from certain ethnic groups and races. For instance, African-American and Jewish women were not allowed to become operators.

Commemoration

'EMMA', A synthesized speech attendant system created by 'Preferred Voice Inc' and 'Philips Electronics NV' is named in her honor.

1 September is unofficially commemorated as Emma B. Nutt day.

References

Emma Nutt Wikipedia

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