USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume III > Part 14
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Character of the Higher Schools-More than two centuries intervened between the founding of Harvard and the opening of any school for higher studies in Boston, if one excepts the medical school which moved here from Cambridge in 1815. Meanwhile a great change had taken place in the character of the population of the municipality, for, about the time of the reception of a city charter by Boston (1822) there came an influx of peoples from all lands and races who made it their home. Perhaps this accounts, in a measure, for the character of the institutions of learning now a part of the city. There is but one regular university in Boston, and of this, the Academic College is not one of its strongest divisions. Most of the other schools of higher education may be classed as technical or vocational, Northeastern University not being an excep- tion, although Boston College is. A changing population and life has called for a change in the educational facilities of Boston, and, however reluctant she may be to modify her ways, once convinced there is no holding back of the best efforts. So continued has been the progressive growth in number and in resources of the various agencies of instruc- tion, that few cities in the world can compare with Boston in the number
BOSTON COLLEGE
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or variety of its colleges and higher schools of learning. Exclusive of hundreds of private schools that in academic courses, in arts or in music, in vocational and technical training, and in commercial instruction, have added to the opportunities that Boston offers to the student and enhanced its fame as one of the greatest-in more than one field still the greatest- centers of learning in the Western World, there are fourteen institutions of college or university grade within the metropolitan district with more than 2,700 instructors and students totaling nearly forty thousand. In the following brief descriptions of the fourteen mentioned, the Boston Year Book of 1924 has been the authority, the figures given being those for that year unless otherwise stated. Much of the description is taken verbatim from that very valuable municipal publication.
Boston College, at University Heights, Chestnut Hill, was founded in 1860 by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, to be conducted by them. The beginnings of the college really go back to 1857 with the founding of a scholasticate of the society. When this moved to Georgetown, Dis- trict of Columbia, in May of that year, Boston College was incorporated by the Legislature with the "Power to confer such degrees as are usu- . ally conferred by colleges except medical degrees." Its buildings, com- pleted in 1861, made a very notable group on Harrison Avenue, and the college remained here for more than half a century. Having outgrown the neighborhood in which it had spent so many years, in 1907 the beau- tiful grounds in Chestnut Hill were purchased, where the three new Gothic buildings, which are the nucleus of a splendid educational insti- tution were erected, and to which in 1914, was given the appropriate, or prophetic title, "University Heights."
A Catholic institution, Boston College has greatly influenced the religious life of the city and State. Its courses of studies are naturally somewhat different from the other colleges in Boston; based, as they are, upon the principles of the Ratio Studiorum traditionally followed in Jesuit colleges throughout the world. The emphasis is upon the lan- guages, particularly the classics, and the training given stresses religion as the basis of all, for it is held by the Jesuits that knowledge has no moral efficacy ; religion alone being able to cleanse the heart and guide the life. Within the college curriculum, there are registered 794 students in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, 23 in the pre-medical courses, and two in pre-technology, a total of 818.
The Boston Teachers College, of whose organization in 1852, the fourth among the normal schools of Massachusetts and the seventh among those of the country, somewhat has already been said, requires no further mention here as one of the schools of higher education in Boston.
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Boston University had its origin in the Boston Theological Seminary, founded in 1867, and located on Pinckney Street. Two years later, Isaac Rich, Lee Claflin and Jacob Sleeper, at the time, president, vice- president and treasurer of the Seminary, secured from the Legislature a charter establishing Boston University. This was in 1869, and backed by contributions from the Methodists from all over the country, sprang full-fledged, at least in name, a university with academic department, graduate and professional schools. In 1874, a report of the university gave the number of departments as seven and the number of students as 339. "The amazing growth of the University, of its departments, instructors, and particularly of students, and in the significant position it holds in the life of Greater Boston, constitutes what may fairly be called the most striking development in education in the history of Bos- ton." The oldest department is the School of Theology, on Mt. Vernon Street, which has the largest enrollment of any graduate school of theol- ogy in the United States. While this department is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, the charter of the University has from the beginning emphasized the university policy of freedom for instructors and students from the restriction of sex, color, race or religion. The School of Theology is the oldest connected with the Methodist denomi- nation; it was the first in America to have a department of missions and a permanent chair of comparative religion; it concluded recently an agreement with Harvard Theological School by which qualified students of one institution may seek instruction in the other.
The College of Liberal Arts, founded in 1873, has, like all the other departments in the University, been coeducational since the beginning. The proportion of the two sexes in this department was, in 1924, 180 men and 470 women. One of the fastest growing of the departments provides four-year courses of study leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. The instructors are those of the university, the enrollment averages in excess of 1,000 students.
The School of Law, on Ashburton Place, founded in 1872, was a pioneer in the introduction of the case system, and in introducing and maintaining a course of instruction extending over three years. It con- fers the degrees of Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws.
The School of Medicine, founded in 1873, was identified with the homeopathic theory until 1918, when it was made free of restrictions. It was the first medical school in America to require entrance examina- tions of all applicants for admission who were not college graduates; the first to adopt a compulsory course of three years ; the first to adopt a four years' course, and the first to make this compulsory. More than 1,300 physicians have been graduated from the school.
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ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, BOSTON COLLEGE
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The College of Business Administration is unique. It is at once a college insistent on traditional college standards of scholarship, culture, and breadth of education, and at the same time it is a technical training school for business, including in its course every practical subject of interest to the business man. The College of Business Administration, the largest college in New England, and the only college of this type, was founded by the present dean in 1913, first as an evening college only, and in 1916 the first day class was admitted. It now has over 5,000 students in its many classes and divisions, a growth which is evidence of the need for such instruction as it gives and a mark of the success of the college in meeting that need. The College of Business Administration has a vital purpose-to train the mind, enlarge the vision, and stimulate the conscience of business men and of young people who are going into business. Through a course of study as wide as the world of affairs, with a faculty of active men, at once scientific and practical, experts in their various lines ; through close contact with leaders in commerce and industry ; and through association with the best thought and highest culture of Boston, the students of this college learn to think and to act.
The College of Practical Arts and Letters came into existence on May 8, 1919. It was established because of the apparent need for another college for women in New England-one which should provide a cur- riculum that would train girls simultaneously for life's journey and for the vocational work in which they might be engaged, immediately after graduation. This college has the distinction of being the only depart- ment of Boston University which is maintained for women students ex- clusively. It enjoys all of the advantages of being a comparatively small college with its own buildings and its own faculty ; while, on the other hand, it partakes of the many educational advantages which come to a division of a large university. The word "Letters" in the college title represents the foundation of cultural studies upon which the various vocational ("Practical Arts") programs are based. Nearly a thousand students are enrolled in the college now. Of this number, approximately 700 are taking the regular work of the day classes.
The School of Education, Boston University, was established in 1918. It is really a pioneer school, and each year has seen an increased attend- ance, new courses, and improvements for the teaching field. Registra- tion for the first semester numbered almost 2,000 students, and the sec- ond semester carried a registration of 1,250, about two-thirds of whom continued from the first. The school confers two degrees-Bachelor of Science in education, and Master of Education.
The School of Religious Education and Social Service was established in 1918, for the purpose of training a lay leadership for all phases of Christian service to meet the moral and spiritual needs that were sure
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to follow in the wake of the World War. Its appeal for students to vol- unteer for this important service and to enter into collegiate and profes- sional training for their life work met with a splendid response. The growth in the student body is shown by the fact that the first year (1918-19) there were 105 students enrolled, and in 1925-26, there were 504 enrolled. More than 1,400 students who have been touched by this school are now in the service of the church in this and other countries. These students have come from thirty-eight States in the Union and from eighteen foreign countries. The school is interdenominational in its spirit and program. Its present student body represents twenty-two Protestant Christian denominations. This school has three major ob- jectives, viz: I. The training of leaders for a national system of moral and religious education. 2. The training of leaders for all lay positions in the local church, at home or in the mission fields. 3. The training of Christian leaders for the non-English-speaking immigrants.
The Graduate School of Boston University, with a present enroll- ment of over 500 students, offers advanced instruction in non-profes- sional subjects leading to the degree of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. The requirements of these degrees are in conformity with those of the best standard colleges and universities of the United States.
In the department of women, Dean Lucy Jenkins Franklin was the first dean of women of Boston University and was installed on December 12, 1924. She has spent most of her time in organization and in helping to procure funds for the endowment of her department, which will look after the interests of the women students in the university. The endow- ment fund for the department of women is well over the $100,000 mark. The next project in the department will be the erection of a university dormitory for women, which will be filled with a quota of young women from each school and college of the university. This building will also be headquarters for the Alumnae of the university. Very few people realize what a large percentage of the students are young women. On one occasion the dean of women was introduced as having the heavy task of caring for five hundred girls of Boston University. This speaker was corrected and asked to add another cipher to his estimate. If evening students are included, the number of women in the university is a few more than 5,000.
The Boston University summer session is an integral part of the university ; it consists of six departments that offer courses leading to credit towards degrees, during six weeks of the summer. Established in 1915, the summer session has grown steadily. In 1925 it offered 152 courses by 72 instructors ; its students, 1,056 in number, came from 31 States and 9 foreign countries and included graduates of 52 colleges.
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The Emerson College of Oratory, founded in 1880, gives professional training in expression, dramatics, public speaking and English. The larger share of its graduates seek work as teachers, readers, lecturers, actors and social workers. The college requirements and work is of true college calibre, a four years course leading to a diploma. In 1919, the college was empowered by the Legislature of the Commonwealth to confer the degree of Bachelor of Liberal Interpretation. The number of students attending the college come from all parts of the United States and foreign countries, their numbers averaging nearly 500 annually.
The Franklin Union, concerning which benefaction of Benjamin Franklin some details of which can be found in the chapter on Charities in this work, is one of the most interesting of the Boston institutions whether it is considered as a philanthropy or as a school. As is well known, Franklin left to his native town the sum of one thousand pounds which was to be loaned to "young married artificers" to aid them in get- ting a start in their business. For this the recipient was to pay five per cent premium annually, the principal and interest to be accumulated for a century and then to be used for "public works which may be judged of the most general utility to the inhabitants. . Owing to a difficulty in the interpretation of the terms and intentions of Franklin's bequest, although the hundred years ended in 1891, it was not until some years later that the fund became available. The committee of "twelve citizens" which was to decide the use to which the fund was to be put, decided on something not mentioned in Franklin's long list of possible objects, and created the industrial school now bearing the famous American's name, a use of which he probably would have given his heartiest approval had he been able to realize the needs of his city in 1900. The building and the equipment of the Franklin Union was paid for out of the bequest ; the land on which it stands was provided by the city of Boston ; while the first step toward a maintenance fund was the gift of Andrew Car- negie, of a sum equaling that of the founder. The Union was opened in 1908. Since then probably 25,000 students have enrolled, the average age of whom is twenty-five. The Franklin Building on Berkeley and Appleton streets is the meeting place of the classes and provides suf- ficient room for a yearly attendance of 2,500 students (2,234 were en- rolled during 1924). Most of the classes are made up of those who come only for part time or in the evening. These-their number averages half the total enrollment-are about equally divided between the automobile engine, industrial electricity and the mathematics and science depart- ments. Of the full time day students the majority are interested in the study of electricity, building construction and mechanical drawing. The tuition fees of the Franklin Union are $7.50 a term. Aside from these fees, the city payment for its use of the Union as an adjunct of the Bos-
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ton high school system, is the only substantial support given this re- markable institution. Just as remarkable is the foresight of the man who gave the thousand pounds which became more than $400,000 by the end of a century and made such an organization possible. The $408,396 given by Andrew Carnegie has insured the continuance of the work begun one hundred and thirty-six years ago.
Harvard University is quite a contrast to the industrial school of Franklin. Its foundations were laid nearly three centuries ago; it was continued as a college for nearly 250 years and during the last half century has become the great university that has been the most potent factor in the educational systems of higher education in New England, the university whose "group of schools no one of which has not set standards for its kind elsewhere, nor fails to retain the impress of the Harvard tradition. Still secure in its primacy among American insti- tutions of learning as the home of truth and the trainer of youth, Harv- ard is no less significant in its fostering influence upon our other Amer- ican colleges, and in the achievements in learning and research and in the service of State and Nation that her presidents, her faculties, and her graduates have contributed to enrich our national life."
Many of the departments of Harvard are located in Cambridge, but some of the oldest and youngest and the smallest are placed within the Boston limits. Harvard has sixteen departments of which Harvard College is the largest, the Bussey Institution being the smallest ; the one having about 3,000 enrolled, the other with sixteen making up its full membership. The Harvard Medical School, founded in 1782, with three professors, by Dr. John Warren, famed surgeon of the Revolution, was fortunate in having the equally famed surgeon son of Warren, John C., as the successor and leader. It was the latter who managed to have passed the first Anatomy Act in this country, and probably in the world, since it preceded a like act in Great Britain by a year, by which students were enabled to secure cadavers for the use of students of medicine. This was a more important forward movement in medical education than is now realized and paved the way for the coming of other improvements in the means of education, both in Massachusetts and other States. By many, the Harvard Medical School is ranked as the best in America. Two outstanding discoveries in medicine which are to the credit of Boston, lie also to the credit of men who were once senior surgeons in the Massachusetts General Hospital and, as well, professors in the Harvard Medical School. Bigelow's method for hip dislocations and for litholapaxy were first demonstrated under these auspices. Degrees were granted by the school as early as 1788. The first lectures in con- nection with the school, were given in a basement of Harvard Hall in
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1782; the first medical school built in Boston was built in 1815. In 1906, the institution was moved to Longwood Avenue in Roxbury, where one of the most impressive of the many noble groups of structures has been erected. In 1924, the number of students in the school was 859, including 360 in the Graduate School of Medicine. The Dental School, with 219 registrants, is under the control of the medical faculty.
The Harvard Law School, established in 1817, is the oldest in the States. It occupies Austin and Langdell halls in Cambridge. The aver- age registration is over one thousand. "In its long list of graduates are numbered eight judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, a score or more Federal Circuit and District judges, scores of judges in the highest courts of the States, and several in foreign countries, a long list of Governors and Senators, cabinet officers and ambassadors, and several hundred professors in the law schools of the country."
The Harvard Theological School is made up, by a reorganization in 1922, of the Harvard Divinity School (1816) and the Andover Theo- logical Seminary (1808). The school is now undenominational; the usual number of students being a little fewer than one hundred. The Episcopal Theological School of Cambridge, the Boston University School of Theology, Methodist, and the Newton Theological Institution, Baptist, are affiliated with the Theological School of Harvard University.
The Graduate School of Business Administration, with nearly 500 students, moved to new and magnificent quarters in Boston opposite the university in 1927. One of the interesting details of the relocation is that the business libraries of both the University and the Boston Public Library were given a new home in a special building which is the center of the fine group along the Charles. The School of Engineering, reor- ganized in 1918, developed from the old Lawrence Scientific School, founded in 1847 by the benefactions of one of Boston's greatest mer- chants and financiers. The Graduate School of Education was founded in 1920, and is intended for the technical training of teachers and school officers under a distinct professional organization parallel to the Schools of Law, Medicine and Theology. Under the faculty of architecture, are the schools of architecture and landscape architecture. The Bussey In- stitution, in the Arnold Arboretum of Boston, provides graduate instruc- tion and research in applied biology, zoology and botany. The physical equipment of Harvard University is remarkably complete, not the least among these being that third largest of American libraries, the Widener Library.
Jackson College in Medford is to be included in the institutions of higher learning of Metropolitan Boston. It began in 1892, when women were admitted to the course at Tufts College. The proportion of women became so high, in 1910, the students were segregated in two separate
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institutions, Tufts College for men and Jackson College for women. As regards faculty, requirements for admission and for degrees, the schools are one. Tufts College was founded in 1852 by citizens of the Universal faith, and bears the name of the donor of the land on which, in 1853, the first building was erected. The college opened in 1855 with thirty entrants, and continued as a school of liberal arts for a decade. In 1865, an engineering school was established; in 1869, the Crane Theological School; the Medical School in 1893; the Dental School in 1899; the Bromfield-Pearson School in 1894; and the Summer School of Biology at South Harpswell, Maine, in 1898. The Engineering School is one of the oldest in the country, and with the Bromfield-Pearson School, forms, next to the Medical School, the largest department in the college. The School of Liberal Arts features, among its other work, a pre-medical and pre-dental course. The Medical School is not only the largest, but prob- ably the best known of the Tufts schools. It is located on Huntington Avenue in Boston, and is a straight-forward institution training men for practice of the medical profession rather than as research workers or laboratory investigators. The students number about 500. The Dental School, also on Huntington Avenue, had 371 students in 1924. It was formed in 1899 by the absorption of the Boston Dental College. The number registered in all departments of Tufts College is in excess of 2,000 ; with its associated schools, it is, in all but name, a university.
Boston is very proud, and with reason, of the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology, one of the earliest of its kind, and believed to be the foremost of its class in America. The rise of the institution may be said to have been coeval with the filling in of the Back Bay lands. In 1859, a movement started with the idea of establishing a "Conservatory of Art and Science" in the new section. An association was formed to secure a grant of land in the new quarter on which to erect a series of structures, among which were to be homes for the Boston Society of Natural History, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and others. The Legislature refused the grant, but its action led directly to the establishment of the Institute of Technology, for the committee having the petition in charge gave its indorsement to a "memorial from Profes- sor William B. Rogers" in the establishment of a "School of Applied Sci- ences, or a comprehensive polytechnic college, fitted to equip its students with the scientific and technical principles applicable to industrial pur- suits." The Rogers Memorial failed in the Legislature of 1860. Then Professor Rogers outlined to the committee a definite plan for the forma- tion of an Institute of Technology having "the triple organization of the Society of Arts, a Museum of Arts, and a School of Industrial Arts and Science." With Rogers as the chairman of the committee, as the result of its vigorous action, it managed to gain from the Legislature of 1861
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