Friday, September 1, 2006

Emma M. Nutt became the first woman telephone operator hired in the U.S. on this date in 1878. Ms. Nutt, along with her sister, were given jobs at the Telephone Dispatch Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Men had proven to be prone to unruly behavior, and so the tradition of women operators was born.

Some years later, on this very same day, comedienne Lily Tomlin was born. One of her most famous characters is Ernestine the telephone operator.