USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1924 > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1924 > Part 28
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This work has been carried on in 1924 more extensively than ever before. Girls were enrolled earlier and in larger number; and a larger numerical proportion of them com- pleted the season's exercises and requirements, as listed be- low.
409
WELFARE AND RECREATION COMMISSION.
ORGANIZATION. To make the exercises attractive, the girls are organized into Clubs; each Club including girls who attend one of the Somerville public schools, and the Clubs are usually named for the School represented. The Schools whose members enrolled in 1924 are the Brown, Cutler, Glines, Highland, Edgerly, Pope, Proctor, Southern Junior High, Northeastern Junior High and the Western Junior High. The Brown and Highland conducted a joint club, this past Summer, under the name of Klever Kanning Klub.
ENROLLMENT. One hundred twenty-three girls were en- rolled in the Clubs.
CENTERS AND SESSIONS. The club from each school met one day each week during the Summer. The work was carried on at two centers, one in the Western Junior High School and the other in the Senior High School. Two in- structors were employed regularly five days a week.
Sessions began at nine o'clock and continued until all the work of the day was finished. All materials were fur- nished by the pupils and the finished product taken home.
COUNTY COOPERATION. The clubs were all enrolled with the County and State Bureaus of Domestic Science and Agri- culture. From these Bureaus, through their agents, the work in Somerville received valuable assistance in the form of ideas for holding the interest of individual children, pamphlets con- taining information as to the correct methods of preserving, etc. These agents also furnished each girl who finished first year work with an attractive Club pin; each third-year girl a gold pin ; each second-year girl a silver pin ; and each fourth- year girl with a diploma. To each club in which every mem- ber completed the required work a banner was awarded.
REQUIREMENTS. Girls entering the first year work are required to can 24 jars of fruit and vegetables. Second year girls must can 40 jars of fruit and vegetables and preserve jams and jellies. Third year girls can 60 jars of fruit and vegetables, 12 jars of jams and jellies and 5 jars of meat or fish. Fourth year girls plan the canning budget for the entire family. Every girl must keep a record of expense and at the end of the year give an exhibition of her work.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
EXHIBITION. On October 20, 1924, a central exhibition was held at the High School. About 500 jars were attractive- ly displayed. First, second and third prizes were given for the best work in each year of enrollment. Honorable men- tion was given to ten others. Over 75% of the parents of children enrolled in the clubs were present at the exhibition showing more decidedly than ever the widespread interest which is growing from year to year in this home-making work.
FINANCES. The total cost of carrying on this work was: $341.45, of which nearly all was expended on salaries of su- pervisors.
COOPERATION. It is largely due to the cooperation of prin- cipals and teachers that the high standard of work accorded the Somerville girl canners is maintained ; and the supervisors and Director express their appreciation of this cordial cooper- ation.
The supervisors of this work-Miss Estelle Crowe and Miss Margaret Brennan-have shown themselves remarkably well qualified for the work and extremely zealous and effici- ent in carrying it out. The Director takes this occasion to submit to the Commission a word in commendation of their accomplishments during the 1924 season.
Public Evening Recreation Centers
The Public Evening Recreation Centers aim at profitable recreation-indoors-for adults. The scope of the work thus far has been limited to young men. No elaborate or in- tensive program has been carried out, because of a variety of reasons, which are here indicated. But in general summary the Director submits as his estimate that results have been proportionate to the City's financial expenditure (about $450.00 for the year) ; proportionate to the possibilities of an undertaking in which appropriate indoor recreation facili- ties are almost totally lacking and the workers in supervision all part-time or occasional workers; and proportionate to the time during which this branch of the work has had oppor- tunity for evolution.
The term Recreation itself, in the breadth and generality of its meaning, suggests the breadth and generality of the field of activity. To direct the leisure-time occupations of a large group of adults with their varied interests, aptitudes, desires, temperaments, degrees of education, occupations,
411
WELFARE AND RECREATION COMMISSION.
home and social backgrounds, ages,-to cope with all these and many other individual differences in such way as to arouse and sustain interest and crystalize the resulting recre- ative expressions of them, is far from a simple task. To de- fine for itself a Municipal Department's own concept of worth- while indoor Recreation, to distinguish Recreation from mere pastime and again from mere pursuit of pleasure which is rather dissipative than recreative; to interest and enthuse an apathetic public in this definition ; to devise practical ways and means for its application to the various communities within a City like ours, is obviously a complicated and most arduous task, for which any striking degree of success de- mands expert, persistent, sustained, thoughtful study and energetic activity.
The primary reason why the present program under your Commission has not been elaborated or has not been spectacular in its accomplishments, is found in the lack of personnel, facilities, finances and experience brought to bear. A second reason is the apathy of the public.
It will be generally agreed that proper recreation de- pends upon three factors :-
1. The possession of leisure ;
2. The existence of adequate facilities ; and
3. The knowledge of how to use the leisure and facilities.
Concerning the first factor, as applied to the local situa- tion, no discussion is necessary. The embarkation by your Commission into adult recreation activity assumes the pres- ence of this factor. Concerning the other two factors, the Director submits the following analysis :-
With facilities limited to four rooms in three school buildings, each open four hours a week, and each equipped for an entirely different purpose from ours: with the psychologi- cal restraint that necessarily attends activity on another's carefully guarded premises ; the field of recreational possibili- ties in our Evening Centers is extremely limited. Again, the traditionally austere atmosphere that is suggested by a school- room-particularly as school buildings have long been re- garded in Somerville-is an impediment to the business of popularizing even these limited facilities. Furthermore even within the possibilities which still remain, competent super- vision of activities in any variety to meet the varying tastes and interest of those attracted, requires a versatility in the supervisor which can come only with broad experience. To
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
pay such supervisors no fund is at present available; and no successful means has been devised of securing applicants for positions in our system.
Regarding the third factor, namely knowledge of how to use the leisure and the facilities, it may be stated that here one approaches the essence of the task undertaken under your Commission :- to promote leisure time interests in the indi- vidual, to acquaint the individual with the facilities, to organ- ize activities in such way as to classify persons of similar tastes and interests, to make proportionate time allotments for various activities ; to counteract the influences of present- day dissipating pleasures and pastimes: to do these with- out pedlantry and without destroying the freedom and initia- tive of the individual, in short, without making work of play. The Director submits that this task demands thorough and thoughtful study of the respective communities in which the Centers are located (no two Communities are alike) ; repeated interviews with individuals and small groups: selection and encouragement of leaders in recreational activities ; a con- siderable amount of correspondence requiring time and cleri- cal work : and a variety of other local contacts. In brief, the Director submits, the greater part of the business of con- ducting Adult Recreation Centers must, for success, be car- ried on not at the actual sessions of recreation hours nor in the Recreation Center itself, but rather all through the week and the year (especially between sessions and previous to the beginning of the season by way of preparation) and through- out the whole Communities served. It is a complicated task in applied sociology.
To meet this task what provision has the City made?
1. All the workers employed, including the Director, are part-time workers.
2. Of these all but the Director are paid only for ser- vices in the actual four hours a week in which the Centers are open ; all other service by them is volun- tary in their own spare time, and is thus irregularly intermittent.
3. The Director, who is charged with ultimate responsi- bility for the field work in these centers, is a part- time worker whose duties include, in addition to those here discussed. those connected with all the other branches of the work under the Commission included in the scope of this General Report.
4. No provision has been made for special assistance in the clerical, statistical, correspondence and pub- licity work that has been indicated as fundamental- ly necessary to success in this field.
413
WELFARE AND RECREATION COMMISSION.
It is upon these considerations and upon the natural dif- ficulty of overcoming the unfamiliarity of the Somerville Pub- lic with the objectives, that your Director bases the original statement that the results seem to be proportionate, at least, to the expenditure, the facilities, and the time the undertak- ing has had to evolve itself.
CENTERS. The three centers are located in the buildings of the Bennett. Bingham and Morse Schools. In each build- ing a room (a double room at the Bennett Center), used dur- ing the day by children of the lower primary grades, is at the disposal of the young men in attendance, with sessions from 7:30 to 9:30, two evenings each week. The evenings vary with the various centers. A piano is available at each.
ATTENDANCE. The average attendance for all centers has been thirty young men an evening, with a maximum attend- ance of 175 at the Bingham : 85 at the Bennett, and 65 at the Morse. The average age of those in attendance has been 19 years. The minimum age for participation is 17 years. Very few above the age of twenty-one have been attracted, though it has not been the intention to restrict the activity for the benefit of youths.
ACTIVITIES. Since the whole enterprise has not passed the experimental nature, the program of activities is still in pro- cess of evolution. Naturally, a diversity is found among the local communities to which the centers cater : and according- ly there is a diversity in the nature of the activities.
Among the activities carried on may be mentioned :
1. Group singing and the organization of Glee Clubs.
2. Some reading.
3. Table games, puzzles and pastimes. 4. Half-hour "talks" by prominent athletes.
5. Discussion of current topics of interest, as radio.
6. Indoor athletics (in the Bingham School only).
7. Informal. unpretentious, improvised entertainments.
8. Whist and checker tournaments.
9. An orchestra.
10. Initial steps in developing activities in drama.
11 Debating.
12. A movement to arouse interest and organization leading to out-of-door activities, after the indoor season, among the same young men, and their friends, who frequent the indoor centers. This movement has taken on momentum lately and has
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
crystalized itself in the primary steps in organiza- tion of a baseball league for Somerville young men, to commence operation the coming Summer. Six teams have already been entered, and the members and followers of each have held occasional meetings in the buildings where the centers are located in the hours of the center sessions. Some of the teams have conducted recreational enterprises, such as whist parties, to finance the outfitting of the base- ball teams, and in this way they have provided recre- ation for parents and friends in their respective communities ; and have also enlisted the interest of persons in those communities in the Recreation Cen- ters and in the general program of the Public Wel- fare and Recreation Department.
SUPERVISION. In the conduct of this undertaking three persons besides the Director have been employed for supervis- ion ; one being a Supervisor of one center, one a leader in the musical activities in all three centers, and one a general as- sistant employed according to need in one center or another.
RECOMMENDATIONS. The following recommendations concerning the Evening Recreation Centers are submitted, based on study and analysis of the present situation. They will be included again in the General Recommendations near the close of this general report.
1. Provision for additional facilities for indoor athlet- ies and physical exercise in all the centers.
2. Employment of special leaders for special activities, such as dramatics, instrumental music, debating, handcraft, etc.
3. Provision for securing (through Civil Service post- ing and publication or otherwise) applicants for su- pervisory positions in such numbers and from per- sons of such training or experience that the Com- mission may have an opportunity of selection to ap- point highly competent persons for this work.
4. Provision for clerical assistance to carry out the publicity, statistical and correspondence work that have been indicated above as necessary to the suc- cess of this work.
5. Financial provision for more emphatic presentation to the public of the objectives, possibilities and op- portunities in connection with these Recreation Cen- ters.
415
WELFARE AND RECREATION COMMISSION.
The Anne McCarthy Neighborhood Center
In the Welfare and Recreation work at the Anne Mc- Carthy Neighborhood Center on Maple St., Ward 1. an im- portant change has taken place in 1924, constituting one of the outstanding features of the whole undertaking, for the vear under the Commission.
The general aim in the work conducted for several years at this neighborhood has been to provide, within limited means, the most feasible and most desirable features of a So- cial Center as applied to an immediate locality. Not merely Recreation in the strict sense of that term, but other objec- tives of social and family and community welfare have been included within this aim. The undertaking has included ac- tivity among both adults and children, day and evening, all' seasons of the year; and has been to some degree linked up with the strictly young men's activities at the Recreation Center (Bennett) which has been discussed above, and which in a sense may be regarded as a part of the neighborhood cen- ter undertaking.
An essential feature in the plan of administration of this Center is that it is maintained only in part by the City. The enterprise was originally launched, and is still largely main- tained, under control of the Federated Women's Clubs of Somerville through their joint Committee on Ways and Means. With succeeding years the City through your Com- mission has gradually entered further into the work, until at present it is probably accurate to state that the undertaking is shared equally by the City and the Ways and Means Com- mittee. Payment of salary to the general supervisor there is divided equally between the two agencies. Physical mainte- nance of the premises is mainly at the City's expense; while most of the portable and incidental equipment has been pro- vided by the Women's organization.
For some time previous to May 1. 1924. this center had been located in a small, old-fashioned and considerably worn dwelling-house that had been reclaimed and meagerly repaired for the purpose of the Center. This house was located on Maple St., opposite the Clark Bennett Schoolhouse. It was private- ly owned and a rental was charged.
In May. 1924, the Center was transferred to the school building across the street, where the City through the Depart- ment of Public Buildings had renovated the basement floor in such a way as to provide a suite of rooms in which to house the ordinary activities of the Center, and where, on the floor above, other facilities including the double room are available for special activities : where the cost of renovation is partly offset by the saving in rental cost and fuel; and where the
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
coincidence of the placement of the young men's Recreation Center, the children's playground (in the school yard), and these activities involving other elements of the locality's popu- lation lends emphasis to the idea of a Neighborhood Center.
This change, in the Director's judgment, has proved very satisfactory; and the authorized representatives of the wom- en's organizations have expressed a similar judgment. It seems, too, that from the viewpoint of the citizens of the neighborhood-especially the participants in the Center's ac- tivities-the change has been equally satisfactory.
SUPERVISION. The general supervisor of the work at this Center has been Miss Emily C. Hood. She has been assisted by various workers, of whom some have been volunteers and none have been paid by the City. Miss Hood's zealous and efficient work has, in the Director's judgment, been the great- est asset in the work. Any observer of the activities and the results must conclude that these workers, but Miss Hood in particular, have performed an inestimable and commendable Community service.
ACTIVITIES. The most actively participant women-near- ly all mothers and housewives of the locality-are organized into the Women's Neighborhood Club with regular twice -- a- month meetings and numerous other occasional gatherings, -cooking class and practice on Wednesday afternoons, lec- tures, dramatic entertainments, social teas, etc.
The cooking course is directed by a professional instruc- tor in domestic science.
Among the children, many of the activities are profitable and educational as well as recreational. Distinct groups have regularly assigned periods for sewing, dramatics, domestic practice and a variety of handcrafts. Crepe paper and paste- board construction groups, the former under a professional instructor whose services are provided free ; cane-seating with a group for boys and one for girls; and cooking and table- service are all popular.
Twenty girls enjoy the Fletcher System in piano; and others receive individual lessons. This is without cost to the children or to the Center. Miss Alice Fox is the instructor through whose services this is possible.
A variety of other pastimes and handcrafts, busying chil- elren of various ages and both sexes, are conducted in groups of from 10 to 25, by four volunteer workers who are pupils in the Wheelock Kindergarten School.
417
WELFARE AND RECREATION COMMISSION.
Military drills and physical exercises for boys are di- rected by a young college student.
The children of the vicinity to the number of 110 have been organized into "The Neighborhood Club", which con- ducts monthly "socials" for members and non-members; and which serves as a medium for promoting the activities that have been mentioned. Many children not members of the Club participate in the activities of the Center.
PROGRESS. 1924. A trustworthy gauge of the progress of the Center since the beginning of the year may be found in the enrollment of members in this children's club. These chil- dren stand in the relation of both cause and effect to the in- terest and attitude of the people in general whose homes are in that locality. At the close of 1923 the enrollment in the Club was eighty children. The present membership of one hundred ten indicates a gain of 371/2 per cent,-a gain which the Director considers as indicative of a proportionate in- crease in the interest among the people and in the intensity and variety of activities at the Center.
Community Drama in Recreation
One more distinct field of activity into which entrance has been made this past year under the auspices of the Pub- lic Welfare and Recreation Commission is that of Recreation- al Drama. This matter is at present decidedly a visionary experiment, still in its initial stages. It was approved by your Commission not until the middle of November. But a beginning has already been made. No expense to the City has been incurred. A volunteer worker, who is assisting the Di- rector in the enlistment of other volunteer workers, is the principal asset at present.
The general theory on which the experiment is being made is
(1) that a City of Somerville's size has a goodly num- ber of young men and women who are interested in dramatic expression and its kindred arts of aesthetic dancing, pag- eantry, choral activities, scenic lighting. stagecraft, public speaking, etc. :
(2) that such interest can be stimulated into organ- ized activity encouraged by the Municipal Department con- trolled by your Commission ;
(3) that cultural and recreational value to the com- munity at large would result from any considerable activity by groups thus organized, to be effected by amateur theatricals and pageants, organization of district dramatic clubs, etc.
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ANNUAL REPORTS
(4) that the Public Recreation Centers, Church and Parish Associations and Clubs, the High School Players' Club, etc., constitute a ready medium of organizing activities.
(5) that public observances of such holidays as Christ- mas, Independence Day, etc., can furnish another medium.
Mr. Lowell Ames Norris, an experienced social worker, playright, former publicity director in War Camp Community service and Red Cross worker, and contributor to Stage mag- azines or in the field of amateur stagecraft has undertaken to assist the Director in this branch of the work, assuming field direction, after approving vote of the Commission in Novem- ber.
Since the approach of the Christmas season, at the time of launching this experiment, seemed to afford an occasion that illustrated the possibilities for dramatic expression in connection with Community life ; and since also the additional field of Public Celebrations direction had been regarded as one in which the Welfare and Recreation Department might function to serve the City: it was arranged, by approval of your Commission, that this Recreation Department should as- suine leadership in such a public observance of the Christmas season as would, in addition to its primary object.
(a) Introduce to the Public, this Department's plans for future activity in drama and kindred arts of expression.
(b) Establish a background for drama, pageantry and stagecraft practice.
An account of this plan and its execution is given later in this report under the caption of "Public Celebrations." The mention of it here is to show that, with regard to the field of Recreational drama, most of the energies of workers- Mr. Norris and your Director -- were concentrated in this Christmas observance with the intent of making it a wedge for future enterprise. The Christmas Eve program included a Pageant. a brief dramatic episode, choral numbers, and successful stagecraft by amateurs.
In addition to this beginning, several volunteer coaches for dramatics-students at such institutions as Emerson Col- lege of Oratory-have been enlisted for service; presentation of the general plan has been made to the young men of the recreation centers ; and a demonstration of what amateurs do in drama for recreation has been given at the Recreation centers by members of the High School Players' Club who have presented them a one-act play.
In the new year, the Director feels, the work will pro- gress on the foundations thus laid.
41.9
WELFARE AND RECREATION COMMISSION.
General Public Activities
On three occasions during the year just closed, there have been held Community meetings for the Somerville Public -two outdoor assemblies and one indoor meeting-with the following objectives :-
(1) To initiate the development-through free adult Recreation in Somerville-of an increased Social and Civic spirit among citizens of Somerville.
(2) To provide Civic instruction calculated to produce more intelligent interest and participation in pub- lic affairs.
(3) To acquaint the public with the Recreation oppor- tunities of the City and to secure public co-opera- tion in the work under the Commission.
The first meeting was held on the evening of February 12, in the High School auditorium. About 1,000 persons attended and manifested considerable interest. The program included : Motion Picture Films presenting Civic ideals and lessons.
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