My sisters telegraphic : women in the telegraph office, 1846-1950 / Thomas C. Jepsen. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jepsen, Thomas C.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Telegraphers--United States--History.

Telegraphers.

Telegraphers--History--United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 231 p. ) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Athens, OH : Ohio University Press, c2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"In the mid-nineteenth century, women entered a challenging, competitive technological field - the telegraph industry. They competed directly with men, demanding and occasionally getting equal pay. Women telegraphers made up a subculture of technically educated workers whose skills, mobility, and independence set them apart from their contemporaries."

"My Sisters Telegraphic is an accessible and fascinating study designed to fill in the missing history of women telegraph operators - their work, their daily lives, their workplace issue - by using nontraditional sources, including the telegraphers' trade journals, company records, and oral and written histories of the operators themselves. It includes an analysis of "telegraph romance," a largely forgotten genre of popular literature that grew up around the women operators and their work."

"This study also explores the surprising parallels between the telegraphy of the nineteenth century and the work of women in technical fields today. The telegrapher's work, like that of the modern computer programmer, involved translating written language into machine-readable code. And anticipating the Internet by over one hundred years, telegraphers often experienced the gender-neutral aspect of the "cyberspace" they inhabited."--Jacket.

Contents:

Women in the Telegraph Industry

The Entry of Women into the Telegraph Industry in the United States

Women Telegraphers in Canada and Europe

Women and the Telegraph in the Non-European World

Women in the Telegraph Industry in the Twentieth Century

Daily Life in the Telegraph Office

Life in the Depot Office

Morse Keys and "Bugs"

Life in the Commercial Office

The Working Environment

Working Hours

Introduction of the Teletype

Occupational Hazards

Society and the Telegraph Operator

Social Class

Ethnicity

Schooling

Reasons for Entering the Workforce

Demographic Composition of the Workforce

Social Life

Travel

Religious, Social, and Civic Organizations

Telegraphic Competitions

Family and Marriage

Women's Issues in the Telegraph Office

The Entry of Women into Telegraphy in the United States and the Debate in the Telegrapher

The Entry of Women into Telegraphy in Europe

Women's Issues in the Telegraph Office in the United States in the 1870s

Gendered Behavior in the Workplace

Equal Pay

Women as Business Entrepreneurs

Office Politics: The Case of Lizzie Snow

Sex and Morality in the Telegraph Office

Women Telegraphers in Literature and Cinema

Portrayal of Women Telegraphers in Literature

Women Telegraphers in the Cinema

Women Telegraphers and the Labor Movement

The Telegraphers' Protective League and the Strike of 1870

Women and the Labor Movement in Europe

The Brotherhood of Telegraphers and the Strike of 1883.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

0-8214-4054-3