Emma M Nutt Day

Emma M Nutt Day

Emma M Nutt Day falls on 1st September.  Emma M Nutt was the very first female telephone operator in the United States, and 1st September is a celebration dedicated to that extraordinary achievement.

Emma M Nutt was appointed to the job of being the first female telephone operator in the United States on 1st September 1878.  Emma adored the job and worked in the same position for 33 years.  This special day is intended to celebrate the world of the telephone operator, which was an extremely important job for many decades.  Nowadays the position essentially no longer exists, having been made redundant with the arrival of automation in telephone systems.

Emma – who was apparently “very thankful that my first name was not Imma” – M Nutt began her lifelong career when she was appointed to the role of telephone operator after being hired by the Edwin Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company, sometimes referred to as the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company, in the city of Boston in the state of Massachusetts.  Boys had been hired to be telephone operators from January 1978 but their tendency toward pranks, swearing and a general lack of patience led the company to hire women instead.

Little information can be found about Emma M Nutt Day, such as when and how it came about or who first originated it, but anyone who wishes to celebrate it just has to pause and honor the memory of the first female telephone in the United States every time they pick up a telephone.

Author – Bill Barkulis