The Book of Business Etiquette
By Nella Braddy Henney
The Book of Business Etiquette was written by author Nella Henney, whose goal in writing this book was to introduce the basics of appropriate business etiquette to the American masses at a time when more and more people were joining the white-collar workforce. The book begins with a general introduction to the new American businessman. The author’s light-hearted approach to the subject is apparent early, describing the businessman as “not so dashing perhaps as a knight in armour or a soldier in uniform, but he is not without the noble (and ignoble) qualities which have characterized the tribe of man since the world began.”
Following this brief introduction, the book tackles a series of specific aspects of etiquette, from table manners and telephone etiquette to proper manners while travelling and large-group dining behaviours. While the book seems primarily directed at men, Henney concludes her work with a chapter specifically for the working woman. Business etiquette constantly evolves, and what may have been considered reasonable in the 1920s is no longer the norm. Thus, the real value of this work is the portrait it paints of a specific time in history. Reading Henney’s work will transport you back to the Roaring 20s, that brief postwar time when business was booming and thousands of Americans entered the white-collar workforce for the very first time. While no longer valid for its intended purpose, The Book of Business Etiquette remains entertaining and insightful. The modern reader may chuckle at some of the passages and will surely delight in others discussing the do’s and don’t’s of business etiquette in the 1920s.
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Nella Braddy Henney
Nella Braddy Henney was born in Leslie, Georgia, on November 28, 1894.
Biography
The family lived in Sumter County, Georgia. Nella married Keith Henney on August 28, 1926. She attended Wesleyan College (Macon, GA) and then Converse College in Spartanburg (GA). She earned a bachelor’s degree from Converse College in 1915 and was awarded an honorary degree in 1934. She attended Columbia University for graduate school. From 1919 until 1938, Nella worked at Doubleday as an editor of books, encyclopedias, and anthologies. In 1923, she was assigned to work with Helen Keller when F.N. Doubleday encouraged Keller to update The Story of My Life (Blue, 703). Nella quickly learned the manual alphabet to speak directly to Keller. She became a close friend and wrote the first biography of Anne Sullivan (Teacher: Anne Sullivan Macy), published on September 13, 1933. She continued to work with Keller while writing the biography. The Henneys owned a house on Foss Mountain in Eaton, New Hampshire that became an essential refuge to Keller, Sullivan, and Thomson.
The Henneys spent their summers there and lived in Garden City, New York, for the rest of the year. Keller and Thomson visited in 1938, 1946, and 1956. Nella frequently visited Arcan Ridge, Keller’s home in Connecticut, and Keller and Thomson travelled into New York City so the group could have lunch or dinner at the Harvard Club or another restaurant. In the late 1950s, Nella introduced Keller and Thomson to William Gibson, who was developing The Miracle Worker as a screenplay based on Nella’s biography of Sullivan (Blue, 705). She took great pride in the success of The Miracle Worker. Nella served as Keller’s power of attorney and as her agent in literary matters before their relationship ended in 1963. She intended and hoped to write a biography about Thomson as she did for Sullivan, but the book never got written (Herrmann). Nella died in Snowville, NH, on December 30, 1973, at 79.
Nella Braddy Henney
