1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: a show that uncovers a little bit more about history 4 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: every day. As you probably just noticed, I am not 5 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: Eve's Jeff Code, nor am I Tracy Wilson. My name 6 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: is Gabelusier, and I want you to know up front 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: that I have a huge respect for all the work 8 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: that Eaves and Tracy put into making this show a 9 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:43,199 Speaker 1: compelling part of so many people's daily routines. I'm excited 10 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: for the chance to pick up where they left off 11 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,639 Speaker 1: and to continue delivering your daily dose of history. If 12 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: you feel like you've maybe heard my unusual name before, 13 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: it could be from my time as a researcher and 14 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: guest host on shows like Part Time Genius and Ridiculous History. 15 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: One thing I learned from working on those shows is 16 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: that history is never as stuffy and straightforward as we 17 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 1: might expect. It's full of diverse characters, plenty of twists 18 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: and turns, and just as much sadness, strangeness and beauty 19 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: as we find in the world today. I'm sure you'll 20 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: see what I mean as we go along, but for now, 21 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: let's get started with our first day in history class. 22 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: The day was Sunday, September one, eight seventy eight. A 23 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:43,440 Speaker 1: woman named Emma Nutt reported to work at the Edwin 24 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company in Boston, Massachusetts, and in doing so, 25 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: she became the first female telephone operator. Prior to Emma, 26 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: the work of connecting calls in the early days of 27 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: telephones had been primarily the domain of teenage boys. This 28 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: arrangement was a holdover from the beginning of telecommunications, when 29 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: the majority of telegraph operators were male teenagers. However, phone 30 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: companies quickly learned that while teenage boys had excelled in 31 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: the speechless realm of the telegraph, they weren't the best 32 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 1: choice when it came to actually talking to people. Customers 33 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: complained the boys were impatient, gruff, and prone to swearing. 34 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: So with the future of the industry on the line, 35 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: the Boston Company decided to try a different approach. Alexander 36 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: Graham Bell himself hired Emma, poaching her away from a 37 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: nearby telegraph office. Her patients and soothing voice made her 38 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: a perfect fit for the job. After a short time 39 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: with the company, she had reportedly memorized every number in 40 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,240 Speaker 1: the New England directory. This is quite the feat when 41 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,360 Speaker 1: you consider how few people today can recall even a 42 00:02:57,440 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: handful of phone numbers by heart. Emma's success quickly paved 43 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: the way for more women operators. In fact, her own sister, Stella, 44 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,400 Speaker 1: would become the second female operator just a few hours 45 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: into Emma's first shift. Less than a decade later, the 46 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: reign of the teenage boy had ended, and nearly all 47 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: telephone operators were women. Many women welcomed the new career 48 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,399 Speaker 1: opportunity the telephones provided, viewing it as an improvement over 49 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: domestic service or a job in a factory. But the 50 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: work was never easy, and their employers soon conspired to 51 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: make the job harder than it needed to be. As 52 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: telephone operators in the late eighteen hundreds, Emma and her 53 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: co workers connected calls between a relatively small group of customers. 54 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: As a result, a certain level of intimacy developed, and 55 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: the operators became trusted sources of local news, weather reports, 56 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: and even town gossip. The higher ups at the telephone 57 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: company took notice of this growing role and began to 58 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 1: see the operators as public representatives of the company. In 59 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: light of this, they began imposing stricter requirements on their operators. 60 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: For example, if you were a woman seeking a job 61 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,359 Speaker 1: as a telephone operator, you had to be unmarried and 62 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: between the ages of seventeen and twenty six. In addition, 63 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:25,680 Speaker 1: you had to pass a height, weight, and arm length 64 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: test to ensure you could reach the switchboard and fit 65 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:34,160 Speaker 1: into the tight spaces provided to operators. African American and 66 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: Jewish women were barred from employment as telephone operators due 67 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: to the rampant racial discrimination of the time. The women 68 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: who did qualify were met with the demanding and frequently 69 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: unpleasant work environment. The operators sat in straight backed chairs 70 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: for long hours and were not permitted to talk to 71 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: each other. In the nineteen two op ed for The 72 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:01,920 Speaker 1: New York Times, one anonymous opera rader reported saying number 73 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: please an average of one hundred and twenty times per 74 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: hour for over eight hours a day, and even longer 75 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: when working a double shift. As for Emma herself, she 76 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: routinely logged an intense fifty four hour work week, earning 77 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: just ten dollars per month for her trouble, which is 78 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: the equivalent of about two hundred and seventy dollars or 79 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:30,679 Speaker 1: fifty cents per hour today. Yet despite these drawbacks, Emma 80 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:34,039 Speaker 1: seemed to enjoy what she did. While her sister left 81 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: the job after a few years to get married, Emma 82 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,599 Speaker 1: continued to work as a telephone operator until her retirement 83 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:45,840 Speaker 1: over thirty years later. Around that time, the Boston company 84 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: she worked for consolidated with other small exchanges. After merging 85 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: with the Bell Telephone Company, it took its services nationwide, 86 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: and over time it evolved into what we know today 87 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,799 Speaker 1: as a T and T. As the number of phone 88 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,920 Speaker 1: users grew, it became difficult for human operators to keep 89 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: up with call volume, eventually leading the industry to make 90 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 1: the switch to automated networks. But Emma nuts pioneering work 91 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: was not forgotten. In two thousand, a synthesized speech system 92 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: created by Phillips Electronics was named Emma in her honor. 93 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: Oh and here's a quick bonus fact. The actress and 94 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: comedian Lily Tomlin popularized a character named Ernestine the telephone 95 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 1: Operator in the nineteen sixties sketch comedy show laugh In. 96 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: Strangely enough, Tomlin was born on September one, the same 97 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,760 Speaker 1: day that Emma Nutt jump started the profession all those 98 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: years ago. I'm Gay Blusier and hopefully you now know 99 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 100 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: If you want, you can learn even more about history 101 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t 102 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: D I HC podcast, and if you have any comments 103 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: or suggestions, you can send them my way at this 104 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: Day at I heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler 105 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. 106 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 107 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:29,119 Speaker 1: in History class. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 108 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 109 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.