Student Research

A Study of the Metal Hydrides Company’s Involvement in the Development of the Atom Bomb

Author: Julie Hanlon

Introduction

Metal Hydrides Incorporated, once located on Congress Street in Beverly, played a major role in the refinery of uranium-238 for the Manhattan Project. In doing so, many laborers from Beverly and its surrounding towns and cities helped the country build nuclear weapons. These nuclear explosive devices were the same dropped on Japan. It is evident that Beverly played a minor, but significant role in the development of the atomic weapons used in World War II.

The Metal Hydrides Incorporated, located in Beverly, was once the site of nuclear experimentation. The motivation of this study is perhaps to shed some light on uninvestigated events surrounding the company. Up until now, not much information has been published on the subject, and it is the right of the citizens of Beverly to have at least a bit of knowledge as to what transpired those fifty years ago.

On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan, thus entering into World War II. In August of 1942, the U.S. government commissioned the Manhattan Project, a massive affair established for the production of the Atom bomb. The Metal Hydrides Incorporated, then located in Marblehead, was asked to become part of the Manhattan Project. They consented, and built a factory on Congress Street, in Beverly MA. People from Beverly and neighboring towns held jobs there, and for about six years, worked in complete secrecy.

Their role was made public only after the first bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, in August 1945. The material available for the research presented in this paper is fairly small due to the past secrecy surrounding the events. Only recently has new information been made available, due to the Ventron Project. The Ventron Project was the cleanup of the Metal Hydrides factory site, which has also been occupied by other companies dealing with radiation and nuclear waste products.

This paper will provide information concerning the ownership of Metal Hydrides, its purpose, and a glimpse into the lives and deaths of some of its employees. With this knowledge perhaps further investigations can be made, and a clearer picture of Beverly history can be obtained. Unfortunately, much of the information concerning MHI has been kept confidential, and that which is available is rather obscure. However, there is enough information to put together a picture of what transpired during its years of business in Beverly.

Abbreviations

AEC	Atomic Energy Commission
MHI	Metal Hydrides Incorporated
NBS	National Bureau of Standards
OSRD	Office of Scientific Research and Development

How Metal Hydrides Incorporated Became Part of the Manhattan Project

In 1937, Dr. Peter Alexander founded Metal Hydrides Incorporated, in Marblehead, Massachusetts. MHI manufactured pure metal powders by reduction with calcium hydride. Dr. Alexander, who was also a chemist, later with other staff from MHI developed a method for converting uranium oxide to uranium metal powder using the calcium hydride.[1]

In October of 1939, MHI bought the parcel of land located at 12-14 Congress Street in Beverly from the Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank. This tract of land bordered Congress Street to the north, an owned lot to the east (at the time), the Bass River to the west, and the Danvers River to the south. It is likely that the move to that area in Beverly was made due to the existence of natural uranium there, which would most likely further the company’s advances in the manufacture of the uranium metal powders. The land had been previously owned by FW Stuart Company, who had used the premises to run a shoe last factory, until October 15, 1937. MHI arranged with Charlestown FC Savings Bank to have the cottage, woodshed, and boathouse, located there, demolished. They also requested that the heating system boiler and steam engine be replaced with new adequate models, as part of the realty cost. MHI also planned to include into the realty gas and electric fixtures, a sprinkler system, and all “appurtenant equipment and all other fixtures of every kind.” Dr. Alexander, the president, his wife Eleanor R. Alexander, the as clerk, and Mr. A. G. Fulton, the treasurer, all signed the document. The sale was complete by October 13, 1939, and MHI soon began moving to their new place of business.[2]

Slightly before Dr. Alexander’s discovery, a Hungarian nuclear physicist named Leo Szilard came to the United States in 1938 to become a guest researcher at Colombia University. In 1939, it was Szilard who conferred with Albert Einstein, then practicing at Princeton, New Jersey, and several other physicists, to send a letter to President Roosevelt introducing the concept of the production of an atomic bomb.[3] In the letter, Albert Einstein, a German, also mentioned that Germany was probably setting out on a similar endeavor. This letter is noted as contributing to the urgency of the efforts in the United States to begin building the atomic bomb.[4]

In 1941, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), and the Office of Scientific Research and Development of Columbia University (OSRD), where Szilard had been working, offered MHI contracts for the production of the uranium metal powder. This ultimately lead to a contract with the OSRD in November of 1942, which started MHI’s work for the Manhattan Engineering District (MED).[5] The massive Manhattan Project was established in August of 1942, meaning Beverly became involved less than three months after its start.[6]

Metal Hydride’s Operations

MHI first appeared in the Beverly City Directory in 1941. Despite its purchase in 1939, the site at 12-14 Congress Street was listed as a vacant factory from 1938 to 1941. The company entry lists Peter P. Alexander as president, Eleanor R. Alexander as treasurer, and a man named Thayer Lindsley as vice president. What became of the previous treasurer, A.G. Fulton, is unknown. In 1944 and 1945, Mr. Lindsley was listed as treasurer, Mrs. Alexander as secretary, and a man named Louis (also spelled Lewis) W. Davis was listed as assistant treasurer. In 1946, Mr. Davis’ name disappeared from the listing, and Mrs. Alexander emerged as the vice president, and Lindsley remained treasurer.

Even after the company’s move to Beverly, Dr. Alexander and his wife chose to stay in their Marb1ehead home on 79 Rockaway Avenue. They did not make the move to Beverly until 1946, when they bought a house at 357 Hale Street. Oddly enough, throughout the years, Mr. Thayer Lindsley kept his residence at 230 Park Avenue, in New York City.[7] This along with the fact that his entry into the company preceded MHI’s involvement with the Manhattan Project by one year raises many questions. Did Lindsley also work directly for the U.S. government?

MHI was a part of the Manhattan Project until about 1947.[8] During this time MHI worked with natural uranium-238 to produce metal powder. This powder was then molded into ingots, and sent to other nuclear facilities in Chicago, Hanford, and Oakridge. These facilities used the ingots for fuels experimentation.[9]

It is likely that the ingots sent to Chicago went particularly to the University of Chicago. It was here that Enrico Fermi, an Italian physicist, produced the first controlled nuclear fission chain in 1942. [10] Another, located in Hanford, Washington, was the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. This was not only the largest of the nuclear facilities, but it was also the manufacturing site of the atomic bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.[11] The third destination, Oakridge (also called “Oak Ridge”, and originally called Clinton Engineer works), located in central Tennessee, was originally founded by the government as a part of the Manhattan Project. Its numerous facilities included Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant, and Oak Ridge K-25 Plant.[12]

In 1943, a better method for producing the uranium metal was discovered, and MHI shifted its operations to the recovery of uranium from scrap and turnings resulting from operations at Hanford, and other plants across the country.[13]

The MHI factory area expanded over the years, from 12-14 Congress Street, in 1939, to 12-24 Congress Street in 1946.[14] MHI occupied three main buildings for use in the production of uranium metal, two of which were wooden structures. The main buildings contained furnaces, leaching facilities, a mixing room, a drying room, and analytical laboratories. Another building was later built over one of MHI’s uranium processing areas.[15]

Apparently, MHI’s involvement in the Manhattan Project affected the surrounding Goat Hill neighborhood. “Security tightened like a net around Goat Hill,” a local reporter remembers, and residents could only enter their neighborhood after showing an ID card.[16] Secrecy was maintained throughout the period before the first bomb fell on Hiroshima. It was only on August 8, 1945, the day after, that Metal Hydrides made the front page of the Beverly Times. In a short article, Mr. Lewis (Louis) W. Davis is quoted as the general manager of MHI. He says that he is proud that all of the local employees had been able to keep the secret so well for so long. He reassured the citizens that they were in no danger, because “all major engineering and hazardous production work is centered in southern plants under strict army control.” Mr. Davis also told residents that: “As Secretary Stimson [secretary of war] stated on Monday, it is hoped that one day it will be possible to reveal in greater detail the contribution made by industry, and at that time Metal Hydrides, Inc. will be proud to report more fully on the part its employees have played in this great undertaking.” Unfortunately, that day has not yet come to Beverly citizens.[17]

Beverly was not the only local city working on the atomic bomb. in the same August 8 issue of the Beverly Times in which MHI appeared, Lynn General Electric Company also admitted working on the atom bomb. “The secret was so cleverly guarded, however, officials said, that less than 100 of the G.E.’s 165,000 employees had any idea of what they were engaged on.” Other General Electric plants in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, were also involved in the project.[18]

Beverly Employees of Metal Hydrides, Inc.

In 1947, while still under contract for the federal government, only 8 Beverly citizens were listed as employees of MHI in the 1947 Beverly List of Persons , (not including the president, Dr. Alexander, and his wife). However, the Beverly List of Persons only records those residents twenty years or older, therefore it is uncertain whether there were children working there, which would increase the number of local employees found in the book.[19]

Furthermore, about four other people were listed as having jobs that seemed as if they might be associated with MHI, and because abbreviations were often used, discerning the full occupation is difficult. “Met. Police” could be short for “Metal Hydrides Incorporated Police Staff”, the people who checked the ID’s of those entering the Goat Hill neighborhood. Two such headings were found. Also “Metal.,” and “Metallurg.,” look as though they might be associated with the company. “Metal.” would either imply the person worked with metal, or, in the case of MHI, the shortened version of “Metal Hydrides Incorporated.” “Metallurg.” probably stands for metallurgy, which is the science that deals with extracting metals from their ores, and creating useful objects from them.

Four death records were recovered. The findings are interesting, although inconclusive about the effect of the radiation, nuclear waste, or metal powders at MHI. What they show rather is a glimpse into the lives of four men who worked at MHI in 1947.

Mr. Erland H. Smith was 35 in 1947, when he was employed to MHI. His 1946 residence had been somewhere in Salem, but from 1947 to his death he lived on Cabot Street with his wife, Anna. He and Anna were both born in Sweden, and perhaps had come over together. His common profession was a pattern maker, which could have had various uses at the MHI. Later he took his last job at the General Electric Company. He died March 1983, at the age of 78. He had had a stroke 14 weeks prior to his death, and then came down with pneumonia. The immediate cause of death was listed as a pulmonary arrest. He was cremated two days after. [20]

John D. Newell lived on Butman Street in Beverly, with his wife Evelyn. Although he was listed as working for MHI in 1947 at the age of 48, Mr. Newell spent most of his life as a storekeeper at a department store. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1898, and died in 1962 at the age of 63. An autopsy revealed that he had died of severe congestive heart failure due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. He had also been suffering from diabetes mellitis, a chronic syndrome of impaired carbohydrate protein and fat metabolism, and an electrolyte imbalance. The medical examiner wrote “no” next to the line that asked if his disease was in any way related to his occupation. [21]

Mr. David S. Douglas was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and in 1947 he lived on Hale Street with his wife Sarah. He was, shockingly, 71 years old, while he worked for MHI that year. His job there was as a production worker. He later retired, but that year is unknown. He died in December of 1958, at the age of 93. The autopsy showed that he died of an arteriosclerotic heart disease, and Stokes-Adams syndrome, a type of cardiac arrest, due to his arteriosclerosis. He also had anemia. His death certificate also stated that there was no evidence to show that his disease was in any way related to his occupation. [22]

Mr. Ralph M. Dallison was born in Boston. He was 46 when he worked at MHI in 1947, and had been a World War I veteran. His usual occupation was in an engineering department, and he did much work for the city of Beverly. Before he died, he had divorced his wife, Catherine Shea, and lived in a house on Hale Street. Unfortunately the circumstances of his death are rather grim. He had been drinking heavily since June of 1960. He was also suffering from grand mal epilepsy, a symptomatic form of epilepsy often preceded by an aura, a sensation of cold air rushing to the head, and characterized by a loss of consciousness with generalized muscle spasms. At age 61, in October of 1960, he died of an epileptic seizure, and anoxia, total lack of oxygen, as well as chronic alcoholism, and malnutrition. His body was discovered by fellow coworkers at 11 am the next morning, naked on a toilet, and slumped against an adjacent wall. No autopsy was needed, and it was concluded, according to his death certificate, that his occupation had nothing to do with his death. [23]

Metal Hydrides After the War

Even after the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945, MHI continued to manufacture uranium products for the Manhatten Project until 1947. The Atomic Energy Commission (ABC), established by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, was a civilian agency of the federal government. Their job was to administer and regulate the production and use of atomic power. The ABC succeeded the Manhattan Project, and retained power over MHI.

From 1948 to 1950, the ABC conducted a radiological survey of the MHI site, which resulted in the decision to demolish two wooden foundry facilities.[24][25] MHI then used them as back-fill along the sea wall, and in later years, new buildings were build over them. Finally in 1948, the ABC released MHI from their contract with the government. The company then decided to continue to pursue the manufacture of metal hydrides for commercial applications. In 1965, MHI changed its name to the Ventron Corporation, and took on new forms of commercial business.

Conclusions

The history of Metal Hydrides can be compared to a puzzle, which, at this point in time, is only an array of scattered pieces. This paper makes up a single border piece. It cannot show us the whole picture, yet we know where it fits in.

Metal Hydrides became involved with the government because of the notoriety Dr. Alexander received for his work with uranium and the calcium hydroxide. The factory was built in Beverly because of the source of natural uranium located there. Lindsley Thayer, the vice president and treasurer, who lived in New York during the whole course of MHI’s major existence, can either be seen as an insignificant wealthy stockholder, or perhaps some one more important, working for the government. The latter is a valid hypothesis considering that Mr. Lindsley suddenly emerged one year before MHI’s official hookup with the Manhattan Project. It can also be concluded that the situation of MHI was not totally unique, considering that Lynn GE and other plants were also working with MED. Yet, MHI was working directly for some of the major nuclear facilities in the country at that time, particularly the one in Hanford, Washington.

It is apparent, due to the recent Ventron cleanup program, that harmful radioactive chemicals were used in the factories. Yet, there was no concrete evidence to support that this had an effect on the workers, although this is a logical surmise.

Overall, there are many lingering questions, and a frustrating lack of readily available information. However, with further and more extensive investigation, one may be able to find more pieces of the puzzle.

Notes

[1] Morton International. Inc., Ventron Project: Preliminary Assessment Report (Beverly, MA: Morton International, Inc., 1991), 2.

[2] Deed. Grantor: Charleston F .C.S. Bank, Beverly to Metal Hydrides Inc., Marblehead. Grantee Index
1936-1940, bk. 3198, 100.

[3] Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, deluxe ed., s. v. “Szilard, Leo.”

[4] Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, deluxe ed., s. v. “Einstein, Albert.”

[5] Ventron Project: Preliminary Assessment Report, 2.

[6] Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, deluxe ed., s. v. “nuclear weapons.”

[7] Beverly City Directory Including Hamilton and Wenham, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941.

[8] U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action
Program, Ventron Engineering Evaluation/ Cost Analysis (EE/CA). Administrative Record, V-O12 (Beverly, MA, 1996).

[9] Ventron Project: Preliminary Assessment Report, 2.

[10] Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, deluxe ed., s. v. “Fetmi, Enrico.”

[11] Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, deluxe ed., s. v. “Hastings, Richard.”

[12] Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, deluxe ed., s. v. “Oak Ridge.”

[13] Ventron Project: Preliminary Assessment Report, 2.

[14] Beverly City Directory Including Hamilton and Wenham, 1939, 1946.

[15] Morton International, Inc., Phase I: Limited Site Investigation Report. (Boston: CH2M Hill, 1992), vol. 1, 3-2887.

[16] Jay Lindsay, “Goat Hill: a neighborhood with a harbor view,” Beverly Citizen, 13 Dec. 1996, p. 4, 16.

[17] “Metal Hydrides Plant Has Active Part In Atomic Bomb Production Program.” Beverly Times, 8 Aug.
1945, p. 1.
. I

[18] “Lynn G.E. Worked On Atomic Bomb,” Beverly Times, 8 Aug. 1945, p. 1.

[19] List of persons, twenty years of age or older found to be residing in the City of Beverly, Massachusetts on January 1, 1947, Beverly MA: Board of Registrars of Voters, 1947.

[20] “Erland H. Smith”, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Certificate of Death, no. 118, 1983.

[21] “John D. Newell”, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Certificate of Death, no. 158, 1962

[22] “David S. Douglas”, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Certificate of Death, no. 387, 1958.

[23] “Ralph M. Dallison”, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Certificate of Death, no. 316, 1960.

[24] U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Operations Office Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action
Program, Ventron Engineering Evaluation/ Cost Analysis (EE/CA). Administrative Record, V-OI2 (Beverly, MA, 1996).

[25] Morton International. Inc., Ventron Project: Preliminary Assessment Report (Beverly, MA: Morton
International, Inc., 1991), 2.

Intra- and Inter- Marriage Between Ethnic Groups in Beverly in 1895, 1900, and 1905

Author: Sarah Coffey

1 Comment

Intermarriage between ethnic groups around the turn of the century depended on many factors. Ethnic groups themselves can be defined as having these six characteristics: common language, common heredity, common religion, common geographic locale, common behavioral norms and a common set of surnames. These characteristics help a certain ethnic group maintain its distinctiveness. It is this certain distinctiveness that ethnic groups hope to maintain, especially by discouraging marriage to outsiders. Thus, intermarriage between ethnic groups is more likely to occur if the availability of partners inside the ethnic group is low.

Several factors determine the reasons for in-group marriages and outside group marriages. Not only do ethnic groups want to maintain their distinctiveness by intra-marriage, but it is also often their way of maintaining the same social rank. These class boundaries are often just as strong as the ethnic boundaries, so that, for example, the commonly middle-class Swedes are less likely to marry the commonly working-class Italians. Formal religious barriers are also imposed on members of certain ethnic groups. Most churches greatly discouraged marriage to anyone outside their membership. Up until the late 1960’s and 70’s the Roman Catholic Church forbade their priests to perform inter-religious marriage ceremonies unless the non-Catholic partner promised to raise the children as Catholics, and as long as the Catholic partner promised to try to convert their non-Catholic partner. (The Mennonites still threaten to excommunicate anyone who marries outside the faith.) Until 1967 when the law was deemed unconstitutional there was a formal legal barrier on any interracial marriage. There is also an informal barrier that keeps ethnic groups from inter-marrying, though not as strong as the aforementioned barriers. The parents of the bride and groom can determine through either disinheritance or just grant disapproval whenever their children marry outside the group. [1]

In Donald Cole’s study of the marriages of immigrants to Lawrence, Massachusetts between 1845 and 1921 he found that immigrants would marry for security more than anything. In the years of “the shanty Irish and decades of despair” marriages were more frequent than in the years when there was more hope. He also found that immigrants overall were marrying more frequently than the natives. One factor may be that in a large city an immigrant did not dare stay single. Security is something that also determines intermarriages. Though it was always common for an immigrant to look for a partner within their own ethnic group, even with the smallest of groups, it was seen that they were in-group marrying even more so in the days when security was needed. When there was hope and less of a need for security, they married less, and when they did marry there was more of a chance for intermarriage. He also found that when the group’s religious or physical appearances were more different than most Americans, (as in the Irish and southeastern Europeans) intermarriage was practically non-existent. Immigrants either came to the US with a spouse of the same ethnic group or married a native, but rarely married immigrants of different ethnic backgrounds. If he or she was able, a member of any ethnic group would more likely marry within their group no matter what. [2]

According to the City of Beverly’s marriage records, 120 marriages took place in 1895. Groups with the largest amount of members marrying were those from the United States, Ireland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Immigrants from New Brunswick were the ones with the highest rate or intermarriage, though Nova Scotians were not too far behind. Sixty-six percent of males born in New Brunswick took wives born in the United States and 33% took wives born in Nova Scotia. Of the people from New Brunswick marrying only 40% of them were female and all of those took partners from the United State. The large average age difference of 10 years between the woman and men from New Brunswick may be a factor in this high rate of intermarriage. Although the amount of members from the opposite sex marrying from Nova Scotia was close to equal, 57.1% of the men were taking American wives and 66.6% of the women were taking partners from an outside group. In the other 3 groups of this list, members from the United States, Ireland and Prince Edward Island were not as likely to marry outside of their group. Of course, it is only logical that Americans stay more within their group since of the 120 marriages that took place that year, 85 of them (70%) were between American couples. With a male to female ratio of 3:2, only 44% of Irish males took American wives and 16.6% of the Irish females took an American husband. The Irish married into other groups and in the case of Irish and American intermarriage the American partners surname usually hinted at Irish decent. Of the four Prince Edward Island natives (2 males and 2 females) who married in that year, all married each other with no incidence of intermarriage. In other cases of ethnic marriage (such as those from Finland, Sweden and Italy) they were either the only member of that group of marrying age, (so they had to marry outside the group) or there were two members of that group, each of the opposite sex, who married each other. For example, the marriage records show only one Canadian couple, one Finnish couple and one Swedish couple.[3]

Five years later, the amount of marriages rose to 167. This time, only 59% of marriages were between American couples. The same groups still have the most members marrying. Both New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had the same amount of men and women marrying and interestingly enough, they both failed to have any in-group marriage whatsoever. Though there was the same percentage of male Nova Scotians marrying Americans as in 1895 , they were also now marrying French Canadians, English and those from Prince Edward Island. For the females from this area, 65% took American husbands. There was also a marriage with an Irish man and another with a Swedish man. Of all the groups, the Nova Scotians were the only ones that had a very close male to female ratio but still married more outside of their group than inside. [4]

With the number of marriages and women increasing, the Irish had an even higher in-group marriage rate than in the previous 5 years. There were no Irish males marrying American females at all. In fact there was only one marriage outside the group where the Irish males were concerned and that was one with a Nova Scotian partner. With the male to female ratio being 1:4, there were now more Irish females marrying outside the group, 33.3% of them taking American husbands. With an increase of French Canadians marrying and a male to female ratio of 4:1, there was no in-group marrying at all among this group, unlike in 1895. Of the 4 Canadian males who married, all took American wives and the one Canadian girl who married also marred an American. The Swedes also changed from having its members all marry within the group to having them all intermarry. Here the male to female ratio was 1:2, yet both female Swedes married Americans and the male married a Nova Scotian. [5]

In 1900 a new group, the Germans, showed up in the marriage records. The records show that there were only two marriages in this year involving Germans, both being intermarriages. The two men who married in this year both married American girls. In this year we see that not only is there a higher rate of intermarriage, but that these marriages that once only had certain groups intermarrying with certain groups, are becoming more evenly distributed among other groups as well. [6]

The number of marriages within a year rose dramatically in 1905 to 2,107. At this point about 91.2% of Beverly’s eligible population were marrying. But the patterns seemed to still be the same. Other than Americans, the Irish were the largest group marrying and most of these occurred within the group. If an Irish male did not choose a partner from the group, they were most likely to take an American or Nova Scotian wife. The amount of Irish women marrying was exactly the same as the amount of men and both had the same amount of out-of-group marriages. With the Irish, both sexes had 10.5% taking American partners, and 5.2% taking Nova Scotian partners. The groups with the most intermarriage were Americans and Nova Scotians. The Americans tended to be more diverse in intermarrying, as the males took wives from places such as Sweden and England and the females married the Irish and Italians. Fifty percent of the males from Nova Scotia intermarried, while 55% of the females from Nova Scotia were married outside the group. With a male-to-female ratio of 8:9, the women from Nova Scotia tended to marry outside the group more. Recorded was one marriage between a Nova Scotian female and Swedish male, and another marriage between a Nova Scotian female and a German male. Members from the other Canadian provinces still tended to marry people from their area. In both female and male cases from New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island all intermarriages that took place were with Americans, Nova Scotians or French-Canadians. Male immigrants that were marrying in the year such as Italians, Russians and Germans married women from Nova Scotia or Beverly, or else they would marry a partner from their own group. The numbers of marriages that include those groups are small. Though there seems to be more intermarriage activity this year , the percentage of intermarriage seems to be lower than any other years; this is probably due to the fact that the number of people marrying increases, so though there were more outside marriages there were still a lot more inside as well. [7]

From the 3 years cited, several patterns appeared. In the case of the Irish, few intermarriages took place. This is probably due to the fact of the large availability of both Irish men and women. Also, because the majority of them were Catholic, the formal religious rules of Cathlocism were still strong. Thus when there were incidences of intermarriages, they were with Americans and Nova Scotians all of the time. The Americans were most often of Irish ancestry and the Nova Scotians were probably descended from Irish Catholics. The Nova Scotians and Americans were the most diverse group when it came to intermarriages. These groups, along with Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick groups, probably had the least prominent ethnic boundaries, and so it was more easier for them to marry into other groups. Many of the Americans marrying were second or third generations of other ethnic groups, thus making them more acceptable to marry if intermarriage was the case. The few marriages in the other ethnic groups may be due to the fact that there was little availability of partners from the particular group, giving many the choice of not marrying at all. Very few married into other groups as an alternative. So, in the case of groups such as the Italians, Swedish, and Germans, there were either very few in-group marriages, very few out of group marriages, or no marriages from the group at all. An example of this would be that of the Italians. During the three years recorded there were only two marriages involving Italians, both men. An explanation could be that during the early 1900’s Italian men were coming from Italy to Beverly to help build the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. Hardly any Italian women were in Beverly during that time, so many men went back to Italy to bring back their future wives, or did not marry at all. Few were found intermarrying. This strongly proves the original hypothesis, that the amount of intermarriages depends greatly on the availability of partners inside and outside the group.

There were also other factors that seemed to determine the rate of intermarriage in Beverly. The religious and the relative barriers that surround the group were not always prominent. For example the Nova Scotians, as I stated before, had more opportunities to intermarry. On the other hand, when such barriers as language and religious were in effect, as in the case of Germans and Italians, more intra-marriages took place. Had there been more time for research, other factors such as social class and occupations might have been considered. However, this research gives an idea of the kind of interaction that took place between these immigrants to Beverly in the early 1900’s.

Notes

[1] Stephen Thernstrom, Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980): 513-14.

[2] Donald B. Cole, Immigrant City: Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1845-1921 (Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina Press, 1963): 120-24.

[3] City of Beverly. City Clerk. Marriage Records, 1895. Beverly City Hall.

[4] City of Beverly. City Clerk. Marriage Records, 1900. Beverly City Hall.

[5] ibid.

[6] ibid.

[7] City of Beverly. City Clerk. Marriage Records, 1905. Beverly City Hall.

Thernstrom, Stephen. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980.

Beverly High’s Drop-outs: Who They Were and Why They Left

Author: Julliette A. Liu

2 Comments

Beverly High School’s first class graduated on February 26, 1860. Since then, countless students have enrolled and graduated. However, many students never made it that far. The history of Beverly High School is riddled with students that dropped out. Why did these students leave? The reasons and tendencies vary.

Beverly High School (BHS) was opened in May of 1858, after much dispute from the working class of Beverly. It was abandoned for one year in 1860 and then re-opened shortly thereafter at the Beverly Odd Fellows Hall, with Mr. Joseph Hale Abbot as the acting principal. This sparked a renewed interest in Beverly’s students and a large advanced class was formed that graduated April 12, 1863. [1]

In 1647, the Massachusetts Bay Colony established a law requiring all towns with a population of 100 families or more to open a Latin grammar school. There were 8 communities affected by this law at the time and they complied with the law, but as other communities began to surpass the one hundred mark, they ignored the law. In 1789 the law was altered to apply the grammar school requirement to towns with 200 or more families. This eliminated the need for smaller communities to formally teach children.

Beverly’s Grammar school was established in 1700. It closed briefly in 1782 until the Court of Sessions forced the town to reopen it. Maris Vinovskis, a prominent social historian of the so-called “Beverly High School Controversy”, noted that “In 1824…the provisions of the 1789 legislation regarding the maintenance of grammar schools were changed so that towns with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants were no longer required to support them. The citizens of Beverly promptly abandoned the town’s grammar school…” [2]

High School enrollment in Beverly increased each year. By the turn of the century, the school soon became so overcrowded that the principal was forced to ask the School Committee to consider either building a new school or relocating the existing school. Overcrowding was an issue not only in Beverly, but in the state, as the High School principal noted in the 1904 report to the school committee: “The same condition is found to a greater of less extent in every high school throughout the Commonwealth.” A school that originally had four students had grown to an attendance of 455 pupils. The principal also asked for an increase in teachers to handle the large influx of students.[3]

However, for a school that had such a large enrolled student population, the dropout rate seemed to be increasing with even greater speed. In the decade of 1900 to 1910, during the start of the Progressive Movement and fifty years after the death of education pioneer Horace Mann, Beverly High School lost a total of 898 students. These students either left the city, lost rank, left to work, left from lack of interest, enlisted in the armed services, left for the industrial school or suffered from poor health and subsequently died. Of these 898 students who dropped out, 29% left to work and 10% left due to lack of interest. The students who left to work did so at ages as early as 14 years old. The students who left due to a lack of interest were more likely to do so in the 9th grade than in any other. [4]

In 1902 alone 92 students left to work. Some students were leaving school to work as early as elementary school. Of the 63 students enrolled in the graduating class of 1900, 16 dropped out and only 39 went on to pursue a higher education. [5]

The 1900 census offers some clues to the lives of the graduating class of that year. One such student was nineteen year old Rose Margaret Mack, who was born in Massachusetts but was of Irish descent. She was listed as not having worked for ten months at the time the census was taken. However, she could read, write and speak English. Her residence at the time was on Rantoul Street in downtown Beverly, which may elaborate on her social background. There may be a correlation in regards to whether or not Beverly had an Irish district at the time. [6]

There was also Alice Haskell Seavey, another nineteen-year-old drop out. She also could read, write and speak English. She was born in Massachusetts. She is listed at this time to have worked as a stenographer so it is only natural to assume that she left the school to find employment. [7]

Nelson Hardy Murray, 18 years of age, was yet another teen who could read, write and converse in English. He and his parents were Beverly residents who were both born in Massachusetts. Nelson left to work as a clerk. [8]

Probably the most interesting student who dropped out of the BHS class of 1900 is 17-year-old Gertrude Bowden. She and her mother were born in Massachusetts while her father was born in New Hampshire. She could read, write and speak English, but at the time of the census she did not live with her parents. She is listed as the niece of the head of the household. The head was her aunt, Nellie Swett, and there is no mention of a male head of household. She was of Irish descent and was apparently the headmaster of the “N.E.I. School for Deaf Mutes” at the same address. [9] Interestingly, whereas Gertrude is listed as being “in school”, the rest of the residents, all children, are listed as “inmates”. [10]

The reason why Gertrude dropped out is speculative. Did Gertrude need the money to leave her Aunt and move out on her own? Was she planning to move back with her parents? On the other hand, did Nellie need her to work at the School for Deaf Mutes? These questions many forever go unanswered.

Whether there is a correlation between dropout rates and class, ethnicity, and social mobility, has long been disputed by social historians. In the 1880’s and 1890’s, Boston Public Schools Superintendent Edwin P. Seaver set out to understand why students were advancing so slowly and why the average age of dropping out was between 14 and 15 years-old. He targeted the schools themselves rather than the individual students. In 1882 he concluded “that the presence of comparatively large numbers of old pupils in the lower grades indicates inefficient teaching, or deficient management, or both.” [11]

Tufts University professor Reed Ueda found that during this period in the Somerville, parents that held high paying jobs but had more than the average number of students were more likely to prolong schooling for their children. This suggests that class distinctions play a role in the longevity of a student’s educational career. [12]

While other social historians such as Stephen Thernstrom and Michael Katz both agree that determinants of school attendance are regulated more by the socio-economic backgrounds of the children than by the school’s abilities, they differ on which aspects of the students lives are more prevalent. Thernstrom’s study of the laborers of Newburyport, Massachusetts stressed the religious and ethnic influences on school retention, and noted that education was a key to social mobility. [13] Katz, however, disagreed with Thernstrom and stressed class differentiation:

“With a couple exceptions, the ethnic differences in the relationship between the age of leaving school and home… appear to have resulted from class distinctions. It was the ethnic group most clearly associated with the lower-class standing, the Irish Catholics, which differed most sharply from the others. And those differences by and large had been shaped by class: lower rates of school attendance, higher rates of adolescent employment, and consequently earlier ages of leaving home.” [14]

Education for immigrants in America at the time was key in their ability to mobilize and grow accustomed to American ways. Not only did the fact that public school was great help them to raise their children to be educated but they learned how to read, write and speak English more accurately. This helped the shift from the influences of their homelands to the ways of the new American culture go more smoothly. Because, as one young Cleveland, Ohio Italian put it, “the only way to achieve success is to adopt American manners and to speak English with ease.” [15]

This relates to the ethnic/class problems in America today. The 1996 National Center for Education Statistics report on droupout rates concluded that “young adults living in families with incomes in the lowest 20 percent of all family incomes were five times as likely as their peers from families in the top 20 percent of the income distribution to drop out of high school. In addition, Hispanics continue to drop out at higher rates than other groups. In 1996, nine percent of Hispanics left school before completing a high school program, compared to 6.7 percent for blacks and 4.1 percent for whites.” [16]

The growing changes in the influences for dropouts in America may have changed over the years, but the fact remains that the individuals who dropout do so in large numbers and for a menagerie of reasons. We as American citizens will always be affected by this and the dropout rates may increase over the years, but until there is some way to determine what it is that compels students to give up on their academic futures, the only way to help is to look at patterns in history and try to find a solution.

Notes

[1] Beverly High School. Register of Students, 1858-1931. Beverly High School Archives, Box 49.

[2] Maris A. Vinovskis, The Origins of Public High Schools: A reexamination of the Beverly High School Controversy (Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.), 60.

[3] Beverly Public Schools. Report of the Principal of the High School. in Annual Report of the School Committee of Beverly Massachusetts (Beverly: The Allen Print, 1904.) Beverly High School Archives, Box 4.

[4] Register of Students.

[5] Register of Students.

[6] United States Bureau of the Census, 12th Census of Population 1900: Massachusetts: Essex County, v.14 (Washington, D.C., 1900), 188B. Available [CD-ROM]: Family Quest Digital Archives.

[7] 1900 Census, 248B.

[8] 1900 Census, 258B.

[9] City of Beverly, Beverly City Directory, 1905 (Beverly, Mass: Crowley & Lunt, 1905), 67.

[10] 1900 Census, 202B.

[11] Marvin Lazerson, Origins of the Urban School: Public Education in Massachusetts, 1870-1915. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971), 140-141.

[12] Reed Ueda, Avenues to Adulthood: The Origins of the High School and Social Mobility in an American Suburb (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 43.

[13] Vinovskis, 15-16.

[14] Michael B. Katz, The People of Hamilton, Canada West: Family and Class in a Mid-Nineteenth Century City (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975), 290.

[15] Josef J. Barton, Peasants and Strangers: Italians, Rumanians, and Slovaks in an American City, 1890-1950. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975), 156.

[16] National Center for Education Statistics, “Dropout Rates Remain Stable Over Last Decade”, Dropout Rates in the United States, 1996, December 1997, Available [Online]: <http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/dropout/98250-01.html> [20 January 2000].

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