USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 5 > Part 24
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FRANKLIN UNION (1906- 1930)
A codicil to the will of Benjamin Franklin, executed in 1789, reads in part as follows: "I have considered that among Artisans good Apprentices are most likely to make good Citizens, and having myself been bred to manual Art Printing, in my native Town, and afterwards assisted to set up my business in Philadelphia by kind loan of Money from two Friends there, which was the foundation of my Fortune, and of all the utility in my life that may be ascribed to me, I wish to be useful even after my Death, if possible, in form-
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ing and advancing other young men that may be serviceable to their Country in both those Towns." The site for the Franklin Union, to which part of this fund was assigned, was provided by the City of Boston, and Andrew Carnegie in 1906 donated $480,000 as endowment. The day courses are intended to enable young men and women to find their proper places in the industrial and manufacturing world, receiving at the same time training in the fundamental principles un- derlying modern manufacture and communication. The even- ing classes aim to give further training to those already em- ployed by supplementing the necessary technical knowledge for their daily work, thus increasing their efficiency and earn- ing power. The work is limited to adults, with a few of the evening classes admitting students above sixteen. The subject matter of the evening courses extends from elementary arithmetic to metallography, industrial chemistry, theoretical electricity, etc. Instructors are drawn from nearby engineer- ing schools and even more from men engaged in industry and engineering. Admission is dependent upon apparent fit- ness rather than on previous school preparation. The total registration since the opening of the school has been more than 26,000.
WENTWORTH INSTITUTE (1904 - 1930)
Wentworth Institute was incorporated in 1904 to furnish education in the mechanical arts on the basis of a bequest by Arioch Wentworth amounting to more than $5,000,000. Since its opening in 1911 it has given training to nearly 27,- 000 young men. For one-year day courses and for evening courses no formal entrance examinations are required; for two-year day courses' applicants should be high-school gradu- ates, or above high-school age with industrial experience. The day work includes one-year courses of apprenticeship grade for persons who wish to become skilled workmen; longer and more thorough courses for those with previous experience who wish to become master mechanics. The' eve- ning courses are similar, aiming to increase efficiency in pres- ent occupation, or to aid in securing promotion. The range of subject matter includes various branches of mechanic
TRANSFORMATION OF OLD COLLEGES 255
arts, methematics, drawing, electrical wiring, plumbing, architectural drawing, building construction, applied electricity, etc.
LOWELL INSTITUTE SCHOOL FOR INDUSTRIAL FOREMEN
(1896- 1930)
The Lowell Institute School for Industrial Foremen was established in 1896 as a system of evening courses, conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by members of its staff. At present it enrolls more than 500 students, including some college graduates. The curriculum includes mechanical, electrical and building courses.
HIGHER EDUCATION IN GENERAL
Any adequate history of the colleges of Massachusetts during this period would require many chapters and would resist integration or condensation. It must suffice here to make a selection of those institutions and features which seem to represent new tendencies or to have far-reaching influence. On this basis institutions founded, expanded, or reorganized during the period 1890-1930 will naturally have preference. Much that is said of the colleges for which these decades have been for special reasons a period of evolution would be equally true of others, of which a similar account is precluded. Men- tion only may be made, for example, of the Teachers Train- ing Work in Hygiene and Physical Education at Wellesley, the special honors courses at Smith, the International Insti- tute of Politics at Williams, as typical of many interesting and significant developments. Boston University, identified with the Methodist denomination, has become in recent years the largest educational institution in the State, with a wide range of professional and vocational work not unified as to location.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE OLD LINE COLLEGES
In an earlier volume of this work the origin and growth of the colleges, for which the State is famous, have been described. Harvard University was virtually a State insti-
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tution till the 'sixties. Its history from 1870 to 1909 is essentially the story of President Eliot's administration, which is summarized in another chapter of this volume. Un- der that leadership, the relatively provincial and predomi- nantly classical college of the earlier date was steadily and surely transformed into a great modern' university. Notable features were the thorough-going introduction of the elective system; the immense increase of attention to science, with corresponding laboratory equipment; the fostering of gradu- ate study and research; the reorganization of the schools of law and medicine. In the late 'eighties these revolutionary changes were well established, the leadership of the university and its president assured.
In 1909 President Lowell, in his inaugural address, pointed out the danger to college solidarity due to the freedom of- fered by the elective system extending over an ever-widening range of subject matter. Under his administration, as else- where, there was a tendency in the direction indicated by his statement: "Moreover, the change from the life of school to that of college is too abrupt at the present day. Taken gradually, liberty is a powerful stimulant; but taken suddenly, in large doses, it is liable to act as an intoxicant or an opiate."
A noteworthy socializing step was the establishment of a group of dormitories for Freshmen. Recent emphasis on high standards of scholarship has led to the introduction of the General Examination and the Tutorial System.
The first recognition in Massachusetts of Education as a department of a university of liberal studies was the appoint- ment in 1891 of Paul Henry Hanus as Assistant Professor of the History and Art of Teaching. In 1906 a Division of Education was established; and in 1920 the Graduate School of Education became one of the associated schools of the university.
The relation of the older colleges to the higher education of women has been significant. Harvard has declined to admit women undergraduates, but encouraged the establishment of Radcliffe College. It likewise admitted some advanced stu- dents of Radcliffe to courses, intended primarily for gradu- ates, offered in the Harvard list of electives. Several other
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colleges, notably Boston University and Tufts College, have made equal provision for men and women undergraduates.
CLARK UNIVERSITY (1888- 1930)
Clark University represents an interesting attempt to build a university on a somewhat restricted foundation. Dr. G. Stanley Hall, coming as its president from Johns Hopkins and Harvard in 1888, aimed to make Clark of similar excel- lence in the fields of Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Bi- ology, Anthropology and Psychology; and persuaded the founder, Mr. Jonas Gilman Clark, and the trustees to start the institution on a purely graduate basis, granting the degree of Ph.D. Dr. Hall had gathered a remarkable faculty of young men-including Michelson and Webster in Physics; Story and Taber in Mathematics; Michael and Nef in Chem- istry; Mall in Anatomy-but he found it difficult to protect his faculty against the potent attraction of the reorganized University of Chicago and at the same time to live within the limited university income and satisfy the wishes of the founder. In 1902, two years after the death of the founder, the resources of the university were increased to about $4,000,000; at the same time an undergraduate department was established with its own separate president (Sanford) and faculty. The new college included in its program certain novel features; for example, the severe restriction of athletics, and the reduction of the usual period from four years to three.
In 1920 Presidents Hall and Sanford resigned; and the two institutions were merged under the presidency of Dr. Wallace W. Atwood, who proceeded to make the university primarily the first graduate school of Geography in America, with considerable enlargement of the departments of Psychol- ogy, Economics, History, and International Relations, and relative restriction or elimination of the others.
COLLEGES FOR WOMEN
Except Boston University, there is no endowed Massachu- setts college in which men and women undergraduates are placed on the same academic status. In Tufts College, a
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separate Jackson College has been established for the girls. Yet, within the boundaries of Massachusetts are four of the most celebrated and most frequented women's colleges in the United States,-Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley and Rad- cliffe. These and other institutions for women only, are described and characterized in the chapter on Women in Massachusetts in this volume.
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
The flood of energy which after the close of the Civil War achieved such triumphs in transcontinental railroads and in general industrial development was naturally attended by a marked increase of interest in technical education. The national land grant of 1862 for the support of education in agriculture and the mechanic arts was assigned by the legisla- ture, one third to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the mechanic arts, and two thirds to the new Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst. Both institutions have in- terpreted their functions broadly.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology owed its char- acteristic features to the moulding influence of two of its presidents, William B. Rogers, who led in the long struggle for its foundation; and Francis A. Walker, who, coming to succeed Rogers in a critical time (1887), carried a heavy burden until his death in 1897. Rogers, a physicist and geologist, gave the initial impulse for a broad higher educa- tion, based on natural science but not slighting academic studies. Walker, economist, soldier, publicist, insisted not only on training for the service of industry and the state but on the value both of literary studies for the engineer and of applied science for men in all professions. Thus the Institute did pioneer work in the use of laboratory instruction in chem- istry and physics for large bodies of students, and in the creation of laboratories of mechanics, hydraulics, steam and electrical engineering for fruitful combination of instruction and research. Necessarily, the cost was high; gifts and be- quests came but slowly ; the traditions of Massachusetts were against State aid for higher education. When finally ob-
MEDES
Courtesy of Mass. Institute of Technology
MAIN COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Courtesy of Harvard Graduate School of Business
From a photograp by
Paul J. Weber
READING ROOM IN BAKER LIBRARY, HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
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tained, it was scanty in amount and encumbered with onerous provisions.
Walker, like Rogers, died in harness. Soon after, there came the first of a long series of benefactions, which, without freeing the institution from difficult financial problems, have made its future far less precarious. Especially noteworthy in this connection have been the great gifts of Mr. George Eastman and the bequest of Mr. H. C. Frick, both residents of other States and not connected with the Institute. Among more notable recent developments have been the establish- ment of courses in Engineering Administration (1919), Aeronautics (1914, 1926) and Building Construction. The course in Engineering Administration aims to supply execu- tives for industry somewhat as the older curricula have fur- nished engineers. Of graduate students in engineering in the United States, about one third are now attending the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology. The proportion of foreign students is also exceptionally high.
EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
A history of higher education is largely a history of voca- tional education, as preparation has passed out of the method of apprenticeship to a master into that of systematic teaching in school. This process, long since completed for the pro- fessions of teaching, ministry, law and medicine, has been effected more recently in engineering and architecture. It is still in its early stages in commerce and industrial manage- ment.
The crucial importance of this development for the State need hardly be argued. In the words of the report of the commission of 1923: "Massachusetts has passed the limit for the extensive development of its natural resources and is now using its land through intensive methods of industrial production. There is an overwhelming increase in invested capital of machinery, buildings, and plants of various sorts. It is also noteworthy that the sub-professional, professional and clerical employees increase more rapidly than the wage- earners."
It is clear that Massachusetts can no longer depend upon its
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natural situation, its raw materials, or its early start for success in these and certain other lines, and that it must rely upon a well-organized and well-trained industrial population.
Harvard University took an important step toward meet- ing this need by the establishment of its Graduate School of Business Administration in 1908. Opportunities for special- ization are offered in Accounting, Investment Banking, Com- mercial Banking, Business Statistics, Foreign Trade, Indus- trial Management, Marketing, and Transportation. In spite of the high tuition fee ($500), the school has grown rapidly, reaching an enrollment of 1,015 in 1929-1930.
Reference has been made to the recent development of courses in Engineering Administration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Boston University organized evening classes in Business Administration in 1913, day classes three years later, leading in each case to the degree, Bachelor of Business Administra- tion. The length of the course varies from four to six years according to the proportion of day and evening study. Similar work has been conducted by Northeastern University.
LAWRENCE SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL (1862 - 1930)
The Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard, founded about the middle of the last century, has varied somewhat in char- acter and aims. From 1906 to 1914 it was a graduate school, like those of law and medicine. From 1914 to 1918 it was nearly discontinued in consequence of a cooperative arrange- ment between Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; subsequently pronounced unauthorized by the Supreme Court. Since the latter date it has been maintained on an undergraduate basis, with a present registration of 251. The cooperative plan to which reference has been made had been preceded by several previous efforts to make the institute virtually the engineering division of the university, with a view to eliminating what was deemed by some wasteful dupli- cation. An important factor in determining the policy of the university has been the bequest of the late Gordon Mckay, under which a large and increasing sum becomes available for education in applied science. The location of the Institute
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in Cambridge since 1916 facilitates a certain amount of in- formal cooperation with the university.
POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTES
The Worcester Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1865, has developed along somewhat similar lines on a less extensive scale, with a present registration of 564. Instruction of high grade in technology has also been maintained by Tufts Col- lege.
MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE (1867 - 1930)
The Massachusetts Agricultural College was founded in 1867, and is the only one of the so-called "land-grant" col- leges, under the act of Congress of 1862, which is purely agricultural. The enrollment of students for work of college grade reached a maximum (690) in 1916-17 and was 592 in 1930, not including 48 graduates. The college, like most other agricultural colleges, has in the past focussed attention rather on production than on distribution, storage, and utilization. The farms and gardens of Massachusetts fall far short of meeting its need for food, and this condition has been grow- ing worse during the period of the college. The State is vitally concerned that its only public college should do what such an institution can, not only to develop production but to eliminate waste of food material and to insure the best distribution and use. In hardly any other State is this aspect of the situation so urgent.
In comparison with other States the college has suffered from inadequate financial support and at times from too much State regulation. Massachusetts, having depended on private support of higher education, has not recognized the danger of economizing too rigidly in the management of the institution. A tabulation of occupations of the graduates for the twenty years 1903-22 indicates, for 1190 whose occupa- tions are known, 763 engaged in agricultural vocations. This compares favorably with similar, figures for engineering col- leges. As in other States, the directly educational work of the college has been complemented by research and extension teaching.
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NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY (1896 - 1930)
The Young Men's Christian Association, established in 1851, initiated systematic educational work for adults in 1896. The gradual development of the work led to the incorpora- tion, twenty years later, of Northeastern College, changed in 1922 to Northeastern University. The day division is operated 'on the "cooperative plan," under which the student spends alternate five-week periods in the institution and in industry. This division includes the School of Engineering and that of Business Administration. The evening division includes a School of Law, established in 1898, and that of Commerce and Finance. Secondary and extension work are also conducted.
LOWELL TEXTILE INSTITUTE
The school was founded at Lowell by private donations in 1897. Receiving State aid from the first, it became completely a State institution in 1918. Both day and evening classes are maintained, only grammar school preparation being re- quired for the latter. Since 1913 degrees have been conferred for the completion of four-year courses. In establishing these courses it was believed that, in addition to training in techni- cal processes, it was desirable to give a broader education for administrative positions in the mills, enabling students as future managers and operators to deal intelligently with the larger problems of the textile industry.
RESEARCH IN APPLIED SCIENCE
The difficulty and the magnitude of the industrial and economic problems confronting the State emphasizes the urgent importance of corresponding provision for research. The inventive talent and general ingenuity of the Yankee are proverbial, but are less and less equal to the complexity of these problems, unless supplemented and reinforced by thorough scientific training.
The importance of agricultural research has long since been recognized by the national government in the liberal appro- priations made for the support of agricultural experiment stations in connection with the land-grant colleges. Massa-
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chusetts has naturally profited by this legislation. Yet, in spite of the far greater importance of its manufacturing in- dustries, the State has done relatively little to encourage need- ful research in the fields of applied science on which these industries depend. To a large and increasing extent this need has been met by private institutions, notably the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology, but much more needs to be done and is in fact done by other States. In the words of a recent report : "Unless Massachusetts adopts some plan for the support of engineering research, it seems very likely that its industries will in the long run be placed at a disad- vantage as compared with those of other States where liberal State support is given to engineering research carried on at engineering colleges."
PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS
In the older professions of theology, law, medicine, and (more recently) dentistry, schools of high rank are main- tained by Harvard and Boston University, as well as by Tufts in medicine and the Roman Catholic colleges in theol- ogy. Northeastern University and the Suffolk Law Schools have large evening law classes.
While only the briefest mention can be made of these highly specialized forms of education, one notable aspect of legal and medical education is too fundamentally important to be over- looked. In its university schools of law and medicine, notably those of Harvard, Massachusetts may challenge comparison with any other State. On the other hand, a latitudinarian quality in the legislature, and presumably in the people of the State, has successfully resisted all attempts to establish high or even tolerable standards for the practice of these professions. Consequently inferior schools exist, inferior practitioners from other States are attracted to Massachusetts, and superior graduates from its own superior schools are encouraged to locate where standards are higher.
SCIENCE AND INVENTION
Geographical boundaries have become less and less signifi- cant for science during these recent decades, with the extraor-
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dinary development of facilities for communication and transportation. The chemistry and biology of Massachusetts are the same as those of California; laboratories and workers, however, are localized subject to migration of the latter. Massachusetts as an older State, somewhat exceptionally pro- vided with colleges, libraries and museums, and favored by wealth and density of population, has produced more than her share of scholars and inventors. In Who's Who she is second only to New York both as to birthplace and residence of persons of note therein. In American Men of Science, on the other hand, it appears that her relative superiority (like that of other eastern States) has gradually declined with the falling birthrate of men who have subsequently become scientific leaders. Of 601 such men selected in 1921, and still in the 1927 list, 106 held degrees from Harvard; 20, from the Massachusetts Institute; 6, from Clark; 5, from Williams. Among the ten strongest departments in the United States, Harvard was considered first in chemistry, physiology and zoology; second or third in astronomy, botany, geology, mathematics, pathology, physics, psychology.
Without venturing into technical fields or making any attempt at completeness of statement, mention may be made (without including the living) of Theodore Richards in chemistry for his refined methods in the exact determination of atomic weights; of Alpheus Hyatt, Frederick Putnam, Samuel Scudder and Alexander Agassiz for carrying on the tradition of the elder Agassiz in various fields of natural science; of William Sedgwick and his associates for biological investigations covering the whole field of sanitary science and public health; of Ellen Richards for pioneer work in the development of domestic science and the chemistry of water supplies; of William James, Josiah Royce and Stanley Hall in philosophy and psychology; of Charles Sargent in the de- velopment of horticulture at the Arnold Arboretum; of Ed- ward Pickering in astronomy.
In engineering, notable achievements are the Boston Sub- way, the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Systems, and the immense scientific industrial development of the General Electric and Edison Electric Illuminating Companies.
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In aeronautics and related fields, researches carried on at the laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute and elsewhere during the later years of the Great War have had far- reaching influence.
NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
Another important professional institution is the New England Conservatory of Music, established in Boston in 1853. The aim is primarily to prepare students for a pro- fessional career. The registration in 1928-1929 included 3,070 students from all parts of the United States, and 77 from foreign countries. In 1929 five degrees were con- ferred, besides a large number of diplomas in particular fields.
NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICE OF MASSACHUSETTS
Not only the larger institutions-Harvard, the Institute of Technology-but several of the smaller colleges, both for men and women, are eagerly sought by students from all over the country. Some of them have recently deemed it wise to protect the quality of their work against possible impairment by limiting the number of their students. Wil- liams, for example, draws but 17 per cent of its students from Massachusetts, Wellesley 18 per cent, Smith 21 per cent, Mount Holyoke 26 per cent, in comparison with Har- vard 39 per cent, Boston College 96 per cent, Boston Univer- sity 81 per cent, etc. Massachusetts ranks first among the forty-eight States in the proportion of students from other States attending her colleges and universities.
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