Although they often faced obstacles and policy limitations, beginning in the early 1900s a few women were able to participate in the pioneering development of radio communication.
Women as wireless operators Beginning in the late 1840s, women were employed as landline telegraph operators, sending and receiving Morse code messages. Early radio communication, then called "wireless telegraphy", was developed in the late 1800s, and also initially communicated using Morse code. Women were employed as some of the earliest wireless operators, and in early 1901 the announcement of the inauguration of a Hawaiian inter-island overland system noted that four of the fourteen operators were women."Marconi's System Finally a Success", Honolulu Republican, February 2, 1901, p. 1. In 1906, Anna Nevins, who had been a landline telegrapher for Western Union, began work as a wireless operator for Lee de Forest's station "NY", located at 42 Broadway in New York City. She was later employed at the United Wireless Waldorf-Astoria Hotel station in New York City. Nevis left the profession after she married "NY" station manager H. J. Hughes in July 1910."Girl Marine Radio Operators", SOS To The Rescue by Karl Baarslag, 1935, pages 249-257 (as reprinted in Sparks Journal Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1 (November 30, 1981), page 6.)
Early female shipboard operators
One of the earliest applications of wireless telegraphy was communication between ships and land stations. While early ship operators were almost exclusively male, a few women entered the field as well. The primary requirements were a knowledge of telegraphic code, which many female landline telegraph operators already possessed, and equipment operation and repair, which generally required additional training.
In the United States, prior to 1910 there was no government regulation of radio communication. The passage of the Wireless Ship Act of 1910 required many U.S. ships to be equipped with radio equipment for the first time. It also required certified operators on board, capable of sending and receiving messages."Wireless-Ship Operators", Annual Report of the Commissioner of Navigation (Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1911), pages 49-52. With the passage of the Radio Act of 1912, the certification program was replaced by operator licenses."An Act To Regulate Radio Communication: Section 3", Radio Communication Laws of the United States and the International Radiotelegraphic Convention (Edition July 27, 1914), page 8.
Medora Olive Newell
Perhaps the earliest woman to operate on shipboard was Medora Olive Newell, an experienced landline telegrapher who began working as an operator in Durango, Iowa in 1886 at the age of fourteen, and in 1897 moved to Chicago and became a commercial operator for the Postal Telegraph Company. Newell's pay as a first-class landline operator enabled her to live a fairly affluent lifestyle; as Telegraph Age reported in 1909, "Miss Newell has been in the habit of spending her vacations abroad, and has always made these trips the occasion for investigating telegraph and railway management and operation in European countries.""Miss Medora Olive Newell, Postal Manager in Chicago", Telegraph Age, June 1, 1909, p. 396.
In 1904, she was a passenger aboard the Cunard liner Slavonia on a return voyage from Europe, together with members of The Hague Peace Commission, who were on their way to the United States to persuade President Theodore Roosevelt to call another international conference to continue the work begun at The Hague in 1899. The Hungarian members of the delegation wished to send a birthday greeting back to Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, but the ship's operator was unable to send the message. Newell, who, according to Telegraph Age, "had a good working knowledge of wireless", took her place at the key and soon had successfully transmitted the message. The grateful delegates thanked her for her assistance, and the secretary of the Hungarian parliament invited her to visit Hungary as the guest of the nation."Telegraph Girl's Exploits", (Walla Walla, Washington) Evening Statesman, February 20, 1907, page 6.
Annie Tucker
The first woman known to have worked professionally as a maritime radio operator was Annie Tucker, beginning in October 1908 aboard the Indianapolis,"Woman Runs Wireless", (Portland) Morning Oregonian, April 16, 1909, page 11. which made four trips daily on Puget Sound between Tacoma and Seattle, Washington."Woman Wireless Operator", Los Angeles Herald Sunday Magazine, March 21, 1909, page 13. Tucker originally worked at Western Union offices in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, initially as a bookkeeper, where she learned to send and receive Morse code. Eventually she and her husband, Robert H. Tucker, trained themselves in radiotelegraphy. The couple relocated to Tacoma, Washington, where Robert Tucker became the manager of the local United Wireless Telegraph Company station. Annie Tucker was given the Indianapolis assignment after working at a series of land stations along the Pacific coast. In early 1909, she was quoted as saying that, as the ship's sole operator, her workday was from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and instead of returning to her Tacoma home she often bunked overnight on the Indianapolis. However, her maritime work ended in April 1909, when she was reassigned to the United Wireless land station at Council Crest, Oregon.
Graynella Packer
The first woman known to have worked on a vessel on the open ocean, and on overnight voyages, was Graynella Packer (also known as "A. Graynella Packer"). She was born around 1888 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in her teens her family moved to Jacksonville, Florida. While attending Sutherland College there, she took technical courses and learned Morse code as a way to communicate with classmates."First Girl to Flash Wireless Dots from Coastwise Liner", New York Evening Telegram, November 29, 1910, page 3. After Packer finished college studies, she decided to go into landline telegraphy, and was employed for two years as the manager of the Sanford, Florida office of the Postal Telegraph Company. During voyages to New York City she became interested in the ship's radiotelegraph equipment, and made arrangements with United Wireless to be trained for a shipboard position."Woman to Guide Ship's Wireless", Washington (D.C.) Herald, November 30, 1910, page 3.
On November 29, 1910, the Mohawk set off from New York City with Packer on board for the first time, on a regular run to Charleston, South Carolina and Jacksonville. Many of the early press accounts stated that she was 22 years old, however she later was quoted as saying "I don't know how the reporters ever came to say I was 22 years of age and I don't think I will tell you exactly how old I am.""Woman Handles Wireless", (Newberry, South Carolina) Herald and News, December 6, 1910, page 9. Although initially accepted by the company's male operators, she eventually met with conflicts, in part out of concern that, as had happened in landline telegraphy, use of female operators would lead to job losses and lower wages. Therefore, she left in April 1911.
In 1918 Packer published an instruction manual titled "Rhythmic Telegraphy"."Part 1 Books, Group 2: Packer (Graynella)", Catalog of [U.S.] Copyright Entries for the Year 1918, page 4910. She later received a law degree, and in 1933 was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme court."Society", Washington, D.C.) Evening Star, May 31, 1933, page B-3.
Mabelle Kelso
Mabelle (also spelled "Mabel") Kelso, was born on October 10, 1883, in Pennsylvania, and got her start as a stenographer for a Washington lumber company. In 1908, she began studying Morse code at Pittsburgh Technical College, and after graduation was hired by Western Union and the Postal Telegraph Company as a landline telegrapher."The Pioneer Wireless Women" by Louisa B. Sando, CQ, June 1956, pages 48-53 (as reprinted in Sparks Journal Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1 (November 30, 1981), pages 1, 4-5) In early 1912, she began training, under the supervision of R. H. Armstrong, manager of the Seattle office of the United Wireless Telegraph Company, to become a maritime radio operator."Women to Replace Men", The Commercial Telegraphers' Journal, April 1912, page 128. On June 6, 1912, she was the first woman issued a "Certificate of Skill in Radiocommunication" under the provisions of the Wireless Ship Act of 1910, qualifying her to work as a maritime operator.
Kelso was hired by United Wireless, and effective July 1 assigned to the S.S. Mariposa, a steamship which traveled between ports at Seattle and in Alaska."Steamer Carries Girl as Wireless Operator", San Francisco Call, September 27, 1912, page 10. Her appointment generated some opposition from members of Congress who wished to bar women from holding such positions on seagoing ships; however, she received support from the Pacific Coast Wireless Inspector of United Wireless, who stated that "he knew of no law which would bar Miss Kelso from her position".
In 1912 United Wireless went bankrupt, and its assets were taken over by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. R. H. Sawler, the new head of the Seattle office, soon discharged Kelso from shipboard duties,"Will Bar Women as Wireless Operators", Los Angeles Herald, September 2, 1912, page 7. stating that "it was against the policy of the company to employ women operators"."Woman Operator Dismissed" (United Press), Oregon Daily Journal, August 30, 1912, page 10. She was transferred to a shore station"Women Who Achieve: Mabel Kelso" by Dana Gatlin, Harper's Bazar, January 1913, page 66. where she performed menial clerical duties, including keeping the books and transmitting from the shore station to the downtown office over a "buzzer" telegraph line. She quit to pursue a higher paid stenographers job. Under her married name of Mabelle Kelso Shaw, she became a Doctor of Chiropractic beginning in 1924.
Mrs. Horace E. Soule
In May 1912, Pacific American Fisheries purchased the Windber, then located in Philadelphia, primarily to be used by the company's Alaska canneries.Pacific American Fisheries, Inc. by August C. Radke, 2002, pages 82-83. Because it was planned to also carry passengers, the ship had to be fitted with a radio transmitter in order to meet U.S. government regulations. Captain Horace E. Soule's wife normally traveled aboard the ship, so she completed American Marconi's three month wireless school program and received a first-class operator's license."Wife is Captain Soule's Operator", The Marconigraph, July 1913, page 445. The Windber left New York City on August 2, 1912,"New York River and Harbor Notes", The Nautical Gazette, August 14, 1912, page 14. arriving 84 days later in San Francisco. During this journey Mrs. Soule acted as the ship's purser and wireless operator,"Woman Wireless Operator", Moscow (Idaho) Star-Mirror, October 25, 1912, page 1. although the radio equipment, installed in New York, failed while along the Atlantic coast of South America. In San Francisco the ship was put into drydock for refitting, and in late January 1913 arrived at company headquarters in Bellingham, Washington to begin the Bellingham/Alaska runs. Thus, Mrs. Soule became the first woman to act as a maritime radio operator on both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.
Edith Coombs