In the early twentieth century, the Industrial Age was booming. Immigrants were pouring into the shores of Boston, New York and other major cities along the coast. In Beverly, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation was the backbone of the local economy. The Industrial Revolution changed the landscape and economy of the country, revamping old industries and creating new ones. This new urban environment set the stage for the national debate over the importance of manual training and industrial trading in the public school system. This national issue was played out in Beverly where a trade school was eventually established.

The planned purpose of manual training was to teach students skills such as sewing, cooking, commercial penmanship, agriculture, woodworking and patternmaking. These skills would allow them to be employed in skilled areas of industry upon the completion of their education. It would be replacing the dying art of apprenticeship and compensating for the lack of education and practice of manual work at home or outside of school. 1

Industrial training, on the other hand, was to be aimed at children who were around the age of fourteen who were planning to leave school to become factories employees.

A Day Industrial School would offer instruction for two to four years in the theoretical knowledge fundamental to a particular trade and in addition, and would afford either in the school shop, or in some regular factory or workshop ample opportunity for comprehensive practice of the various parts of the trade under factory conditions. 2

This was not just an education of a particular skill such as carpentry, but a preparation particular to work in factories appropriate to local industries. Prior to having a day school Beverly had held Evening Industrial Schools, but these were later considered “fragmentary and less comprehensive” than a day school would be. Industrial and manual training classes could be taught in two ways. One was independently in a separate school and another way was through a composite high school which contained both a traditional high school as well as a vocational one. 3

At the same time as the discussion on manual and industrial education in public school systems reached its height, immigrants were coming into the United States in record numbers. They brought with them their own cultures and developed ethnic neighborhoods such as the North End in Boston which was predominantly Italian. Many of these immigrants ended up working in factories. Manual and industrial education was considered a way to assimilate immigrants into the culture of the United States. 4

In Origins of the Urban School: Public Education in Massachusetts, 1870-1975, Marvin Lazerson writes about the North Bennet Street Industrial School in the North End of Boston. It was established for philanthropic means and to meet the “needs of the immigrant poor.” The experimental school was an attempt to reduce and eventually eliminate poverty in the area. 5

While not all school committee reports from various school systems direct their trade school initiatives at the immigrant class, one can see that in many ways it is inferred. For instance, one article from the National Education Association states that vocational education is essential for “public safety and public welfare,” and then goes on to say further that manual training schools “give a superior cultural education”. (pdf)  6 In another article it says that composite high schools are more favorable than independent vocational schools because the separation of the two schools results in “caste distinctions.” Furthermore the article states that a composite high school is the best atmosphere for “promoting democratic ideas thru acquaintance and saner judgments.” (pdf)  7

All of these comments, when paired with the nativist attitude of the time can be seen as referring to the education and assimilation of immigrants. The comment about “caste distinctions” shows that there is a distinct and tangible gap between the social status of those attending vocational schools and those attending traditional high schools.

A perfect example of vocational education being used as a tool for assimilation is in home economics. In another National Education Association article discussing vocational schools for girls, it lists reasons for such schools to exist. The third reason states these schools help “groups of foreign girls and women who desire and need to be initiated into American standards and methods of homemaking” 8 Around the same time period a group of concerned citizens submitted a report to the Beverly School Committee which concerned sewing. It stressed its importance and practicality since it was one of the least expensive classes to run. It reads as follows:

While it is quite possible for girls to be taught to sew at home, as a matter of fact this is rarely done. Few mothers have, themselves, been systematically taught to sew and consequently few are capable of teaching their girls to sew properly. The busy mothers of today have little leisure and continually put off teaching their daughters to a more convenient day with the result that the girls are not taught at all. 9

While this excerpt does not specifically mention the immigrant population of Beverly, it does imply the shortcomings of the lower classes. While many women had jobs, those who were working so hard as to not to have to time to teach their children to sew were probably forced to take up a factory job to support their family. Whole families worked in factories in order to support themselves. The article goes on to give a short list of the deeds a young girl should be capable of in the contemporary culture.

Sewing and home economics was not solely for immigrants and those in lower classes with hardworking mothers. It was also suggested for young girls in “well-to-do modern homes, who are in school but do not practice homemaking.”10 Like many other instances in history, vocational training was not just for the poverty stricken immigrants. While in the case of the North Bennet Street Industrial School it was set up to alleviate poverty, there were also other purposes for setting up such schools. 11

In 1905 a Beverly School Committee report stated that a “Professor Tyler” gave physiological reasons for the need for manual training.
He says that the vital organs, the heart and lungs, are not stimulated to increased activity by mental exertion alone. It is necessary to exercise the muscles in order to relieve congestion and restore the perceptive faculties to their normal powers. In this way manual work actually increases the power of the mind to acquire knowledge by keeping the mental machinery in proper condition. 12

While claims such as this and others were made about the general importance of vocational education for all, it is also clear that muddled in between the lines is the idea that it is a way to assimilate and regulate the influx of immigrants. By implementing manual training and industrial schools it was one way to teach new immigrants the cultural aspects of the United States workplace and made schools civic and social centers. Foreign girls were taught how to keep proper homes, while boys were educated on factory work and other trades. In some instances such as the North Bennet Street School the schools were established to try and eliminate poverty.

History is not simple however and the importance of vocational schools is still evident today without an immigration issue. There were and always will be students that are not bound for colleges or universities but wish to go into some form of skilled labor. In a time were apprenticeships no longer exist as they once did, trade schools provide an opportunity for students to get the education they need to become successful in the job market.

1 “Manual Training“, School Committee Report, Beverly City Documents 1905. (Beverly High School Archives)

2 “Industrial Training“, School Committee Report, Beverly City Documents 1907. (Beverly High School Archives)

3 Ibid.

4 Marvin Lazerson, Origins of the Urban School: Public Education in Massachusetts, 1870-1915 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971).

5 Ibid, 115.

6 National Education Association of the United States. Journal of the Proceedings and Addresses (Ann Arbor Michigan, 1912), 1032.

7 Ibid, 178.

8 Ibid, 1031.

9 “The Fads,” School Committee Report, Beverly City Documents 1906. (Beverly High School Archives)

10 NEA,1031.

11 Lazerson, 115.

12 “Manual Training.”

Americanization is a major aspect of American Exceptionalism. The fact that a nation can contain people from all major world powers, and flow evenly, together in peace, is an enormous accomplishment. When its people accepts this feat, when this melting pot is known to the immigrants, who still flood ships with their arrivals, it is extraordinary. Americanization through education is one genre of this sameness of identity, and whether it is ideal or devastating, is up for interpretation. Who were these people who needed to learn the American way? What did they learn from Citizenship and Americanization classes? What does Americanization truly consists of? This melting pot of ideals, theories, and education, runs much deeper and less superfluous than exterior acceptance. This hypothesis has been proved, to the best of a high school senior’s research and knowledge. Many tools have been explored, such as School Committee reports and the 1930 census, and many resources, such as the archives at Beverly High School, and the Gutman Library at Harvard, have been excessively picked through. Although this topic is not unique, its relation to Beverly High School is. Many books have been written on Americanization, for example, Robert A. Carlson’s The Americanization Syndrome: A Quest for Conformity, and The Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, edited by Stephan Thernstrom. The significance of Americanization through education in Beverly and New York City, is the comparison from the small town to the big city. The differences are surprisingly not great; it is their similarities which make them interesting. The sustained dream of achieving a totally Americanized nation is a wonderful concept, but will it nevertheless always linger as a dream, given that individuality and freedom remain the hallmarks of Americanization?

 

“A nation consists of its citizens. It is they who make up the body politic, who determine its future, and who insure its perpetuation. It is of the utmost importance to the nation to assimilate into its blood stream those foreign elements that can add to its vigor and maintain its standards.” [1] Before jumping to conclusions, one must ask, who are these ‘foreign elements’ who make up the majority of the future of America, the land of all opportunities big and small? How is it possible for a single nation to assimilate the immigrant so willingly? The answer to this seemingly complex question, is however, quite simple. It is a force that lives among us all, that drives us to do the unthinkable from the moment we are first put in contact with others of our own kind: peer pressure. However, when speaking of this force in context of an entire nation, an American nation, we refer to it as Americanization.

In theory, Americanization is simply the yearning to be like all those who are successful and amalgamated; to effectively live in America, is to be American. As the infamous historian/philosopher, Crèvecoeur remarked, as he came to study social mobility in America, the immigrant who comes to this nation, comes with his own beliefs and values, but as he remains in America, he is “melted into a new race of men.” [2] This melting pot of ideals, theories, and education, runs much deeper and less superfluous than exterior acceptance.

Late in the 19^th century, with the influx of the new immigrant, American Nativists who were third or fourth generation native-born began to become weary of the sea of new un-American faces. Between 1860 and 1900, there were over 14,000,000 people immigrating to the United States. Over 18 1/2 million more arrived between 1900 and 1930, with a peak arrival of 1,285,349 in 1907 alone. [3] The new immigrant from Southern and Eastern Europe, was usually uneducated, was of a different religion, and did not speak English. How then would he be assimilated? Cities nation-wide were overburdened by demand for proper Americanization programs, that would help prepare foreigners for the American way of life. Beverly, Massachusetts, a former fishing village, which developed into an industrial town by the opening of a shoe machinery corporation, was of no exception.

According to the Beverly School Committee, “for the accomplishment of this result, the solution of the problem of the Americanization of the foreigner, the attention of the general public was focused on the evening school.” [4] The assimilation of the non-English speaking person was not the major problem, but rather the recruiting of non-citizens. When an immigrant first decided that he/she wanted to become an American Citizen, a Declaration of Intention was to be filled out, followed by a Petition for Naturalization. Most adults, who were not naturalized, were working parents who did not have the time or energy to attend voluntary evening schools. The earlier courses taught, such as Civics, History, English, Bookkeeping, and Penmanship, were not deemed as necessary subject matter, which would help put food on the table. Beverly understood that “there is no Americanization until the foreigner becomes a conscious part of America.” [5] In order to recruit people for the evening schools, there must have first been an incentive for them to join.

In 1915, the Beverly Department of Education organized a Citizenship program, which would prepare immigrants for citizenship, and provide him/her with first and second papers in order to naturalize. The class became an instant success. This movement of Citizenship Education was the first step towards an evolution of Americanization Education. Another reason for the high enrollment in Citizenship classes was the patriotic peer pressure felt during wartime. As in the cases of Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians, it was almost vital to prove loyalty to America. This is not so evident in Beverly as seen through Adult Education records, as there were not very many Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians enrolled previously. However, when compared to the percentages of diverse ethnic backgrounds found in the New York City evening schools, it is more evident that immigrants of from Axis-power countries during WW1 felt a great need to show their loyalty to America. Out of 73,042 students in NYC evening schools, Austrians held 10.02% of enrollment, Germans 6.11%, and Hungarians 3.95%, during the school years between 1913 and 1915.  On the other hand, it was the allied forces of Russia (46.35%) and Italy (14.63%) who made up the majority in both the big city and, of 8.80% and 33.77% out of 303, in the small town evening school. (See  “Analysis of Foreign Attendance in Evening Elementary Schools during Two Successive Years” & Evening School Attendees, Birthplaces (1913-1915) )

Political leaders were hard at work, analyzing the solutions available to Americanize the immigrant, and in 1917, a conference was held in Washington D.C., which addressed the issue of, “What is Americanization?” [6] In 1918, the director of the Beverly Evening School made a significant remark: “ It is evident that school departments cannot handle the problem of Americanization without help; the industries must co-operate.” [7] Beverly was not alone in this concern. In 1919, an Act of Congress was passed stating that instruction must be provided for foreigners in English, Government, and Citizenship. Finally, in 1920, a Supervisor of Americanization was appointed for the Beverly evening schools, under the University Extension and the State Department of Americanization. Information Bureaus were set up to secure passports, naturalization forms, and to help immigrants with their handicap in language. It was also in the fall of 1920, that the very first Americanization classes were available in the Beverly Evening School curriculum.

Shortly after this great educational enhancement, came the help needed from the local industries. In the 1921-22 Annual School Report, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation was given recognition for their co-operation in supporting weekly Americanization and Citizenship classes during their noon-hour break. In January of 1922, two newspaper articles were written for the Beverly Evening Times addressing the “Splendid work… being done in the Americanization classes in this city… ” [8] and that “the classes in Citizenship at the plant of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation are worthy of mention just now. ” [9] It was believed at this time of reinstatement of a totally American society, that control over the immigrant could once again be reached.

According to the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, “the Americanization movement tried to submerge the complex relationships between ethnic backgrounds and national identity… most educators sought to promote cultural homogeneity and the work ethic of industrial capitalism”. But some like Julia Richman and Jane Addams, believed that Americanization through education would separate families, because it is primarily the youth who is Americanized first, and the immigrant parent second. [10] There were, of course, other means to Americanize the adult foreigner, the more instinctive of which would be inter-marriage. If an Italian and Armenian were to fall in love, would they not yearn to learn a language the two of them could understand? And while living in America, would that not entice them to join the local evening school? However, who would be the first to join, the man or the woman? According to registration records for Beverly’s citizenship classes, immigrant men would more commonly advance to the highest-level classes, while women would continuously remain under beginner or intermediate instruction. Was this red tape bias towards men, or was it family needs that drew women away from their studies? In any case, during the winter of 1924, an Americanization class was organized especially for immigrant mothers, held in the homes of the immigrant women. The women enjoyed these classes, which focused on the home, clothing, cooking, etc., so much that another was organized the following fall. During this same winter session, there was a group of men and their wives who met to study English and Citizenship together. This was a peculiar, because men were usually non-supportive of their wives attending school. [11]

In this genre of education, Beverly was not among the first to encourage immigrant mothers to Americanize. In New York City’s 1910-11 School Committee report, prior to the mention of Citizenship or Americanization classes, courses in home making, cooking, dressmaking, and such classes were available. [12] Although educators in New York City may not have been aware of their unplanned assimilation, being taught in one of the largest cosmopolitans of the United States was the original notion of Americanization of the woman.

Prior to 1922, women automatically received citizenship once their husbands became naturalized. However a new Act of Congress was passed stating new laws towards the naturalization of married women:

1. Citizenship is no longer conferred on an alien woman by her marriage to a citizen.

2. Citizenship is no longer conferred on the wife by the naturalization of her husband.

3. Citizenship of a woman is no longer lost by marriage to an alien unless the alien husband is ineligible to citizenship.” [13]

Women were suddenly left on their own to gain Citizenship. Three 1925 Citizenship classes and one Americanization class were linked to the 1930 national census . The findings show that out of the ten students who still dwelled in their same home, five of which were men and one woman, had been naturalized by 1930 ; one man had his First Papers, and two alien women were married to men who had their First papers. These findings are worth mentioning, as they show that these two alien women, who under the new law, were enrolled in the classes because they had to become naturalized citizens themselves . In 1923, there were only 7 Petitions for Naturalization, and 117 Declarations of Intention. Nevertheless, the following year, there were 66 Petitions for Naturalization, and 153 Declarations of Intention.  Whether this extreme change in necessity was directly related to the new Act of Congress or not is not known for sure, however the connection raises strong questions as to its construal. This particular Act of Congress may also be the cause for the sudden increase in Americanization classes, from 73 students in 1923, to 101 students, in 1924, and 159 students the following year, with a peak of 180 students in 1926. At this point, word would have been out that successfully earned citizenship could be accomplished through evening school. 

During this same time period, a new Immigrant Quota law was passed limiting the number of immigrants who could enter the country. As for those who had family wishing to come to America, an exception stated “immigrant relatives of a citizen are given precedence in making up the quota for those who may enter the country.” [14] These may have also caused the rush of registration to Americanization classes at the Beverly Evening Schools, and the increase in Petitions for naturalization. “The Johnson-Reed Act…would [restrict] an overall yearly limit of 150,000 on immigrants from outside the western hemisphere. The 150,000 was to be divided into quotas, assigned to nationalities in the proportion that they bore, by birth, or descent, to the total population as of 1920.” [15]

Beverly’s Americanization program must have raised the attention of many other towns, for in 1937, “35 out-of-town students [were] attending the evening classes (…) namely [from] Danvers, Salem, Peabody, Wenham, Manchester, and Hamilton.” [16] Was it possible that Beverly was more prominent and advanced in teaching programs than their brother and sister towns? If it were not for WW2, which caused a sudden decline in Americanization class attendance, would Beverly’s Americanization Education Department have carried on longer than 1944? The last mention of Americanization available cited within the resources of the Beverly Educational Archives, states that “ statistics indicate a great need for Americanization training leading to citizenship, but there are practical difficulties in the way of securing co-operation of aliens in any program of education which are so far unable to overcome.” [17]

In the past, Americanization Education supplied support for immigrants, the will of Nativists, and control to America’s political leaders, as long as the foreigner was enticed to learn the American way. However, the original aims of Americanization through education are open to discussion. Was Americanization the thread that held immigrants and Americans together and equal? Or was it the eraser of tradition, religion, loyalty and pride of one’s native country? Americans “worked to create a national identity as a land of individual freedom based on the Protestant religion, the middle class society, and a republican form of government.” [18] Through this idea of Americanizing national identity, was the complete assimilation of the foreigner ever achieved? The sustained dream of achieving a totally Americanized nation is a wonderful concept, but will it nevertheless always linger as a dream, given that individuality and freedom remain the hallmarks of Americanization?

Works Cited

Books

Civic Education for the Foreign-born in the United States. A joint Publication of the Immigration and Naturalization services, 1944.

Bevilaqua Matheson, Mary and Linden McCullough. Americanization Primer. Norwood: Norwood Press, 1920.

Berkson, Isaac B. Theories of Americanization: A critical study. New York: Amo Press & the New York Times, 1969.

Carlson, Robert A. The Americanization Syndrome: A Quest for Conformity. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987.

Carlson, Robert A. The Quest for Conformity: Americanization through Education. New York: John Wiey and Sons, 1978.

Cornbleth, “Citizenship Education” in Encyclopedia of Educational Research. New York: the Free Press, 1982.

Thernstrom, Stephan, ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980.
Periodicals

Weisberger, Bernard A. “A nation of immigrants,” American Heritage, 1994.
Primary Sources

Beverly Evening Times. 10 January – 12 January 1922.

Report of School Committee, Annual Report: Supervisor of Americanization and of the Evening School (Beverly, Massachusetts, 1906-1944).

Report of School Committee, Annual Report: Supervisor of Americanization and of the Evening School (New York City, NY, 1910-1918).

Census Records (Beverly, Massachusetts, 1930).

Registration Records, Citizenship and Americanization classes (Beverly, Massachusetts, 1925).

 

 

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At the turn of the twentieth century, Beverly was a large flourishing city with great ethnic and economic diversity, and many economic levels. One key factor in the city’s development was the United Shoe Machinery Company (USMC). This factory, with its enormous quantity of jobs, was a center of economic vitality in Beverly for almost a hundred years. There were so many jobs available that trained workers came from all around, settling in Beverly, just to work at the USMC. Beverly then began to train youth for these jobs by adding a strong vocational aspect to schooling. Part of this training was on-site work at the USMC.

“It is now generally agreed that we must look to the schools for our future skilled workmen. The apprenticeship system can never return, and if it could return in its best form, it would be entirely inadequate to meet our present demands ,” [1] Milton P. Higgins pointed out in the NEA (National Education Association) proceedings in 1903. Higgins was the president of a wheel manufacturing company in Worcester, Mass. He spoke of the need of these students to be trained for specific jobs. “At the start any trade-school system, any education for the trades, in order to meet the reasonable needs and demands of the manufacturer must make skill the central part of the enterprise.”[Sic] (see Appendix A) [2] Higgins believed that the Industrial School is a necessity in order for industry to prosper. He also spoke of the importance of the technical and trade colleges such as MIT as well as the textile schools of Philadelphia and Lowell.

Probably there is no line of manufacturing where the trade school has been more thoroly [Sic] organized for teaching the practical skill required than the textile schools, such as those at Philadelphia and at Lowell; and I think no attempt has yet been made where the results are more satisfactory to the manufacturer. This is largely because, owing to the nature of the industry, these schools have been conducted under conditions as real and almost exactly the same as the pupils will meet upon leaving the school. [3] 

Here he mentions that Lowell’s textile schools are very effective. This was important in that Beverly had a similar type of school. While the schools may not have been the same there were some great similarities, such as their great ties to the manufacturer. While the materials being made were not the same the goals of the two schools were the same.

Higgins also pointed out that “over 30 per cent of all our skilled mechanics are born and trained in foreign countries…” [4] Here he is showing a strong interest in keeping the industries in the US, as American as possible. The bottom line was that the students should be trained specifically for factory work so they could be more useful than foreign students.

The Beverly Independent Industrial School was established in 1909, for the purpose of training young men and women in factory work. [5] Despite its name, there was actually a connection between the factory and the public schools. In the USMC there was a separate part of the factory set aside for the use of the school. While they did not interact with other workers they were still producing products for the factory. The factory funded all projects that the students were doing and in return purchased all products, which passed inspection and the factory standards, at a very reduced rate. The corporation gave a section of floor-space, heat, light, power, machines, and tools, to the Industrial School, and the School regarded this area as its own little factory. [6]

In addition to learning in a hands-on environment, there was also time spent in the classroom. Every other week would be spent in the classroom learning basic math and science relating to factory work, including sketching dimensions, reading blueprints, English, civics and economics, and business forms and practice. [7] This was felt to be the backbone of their learning and gave them the knowledge they needed to apply to their work. This knowledge could be used in many other vocations, not limiting the students to work in the USMC, but allowing them to venture off into other trades that they may find interesting or more challenging.

World War I played a major role in the industry of both Beverly and Lowell. War called for a drastic increase in the production of materials, be it clothing or any other important wartime material. A large job market opened up when the young men went off to war. Factories now needed many new trained workers to keep producing the materials needed by the soldiers. [8]

An important goal of the student’s learning was becoming a full-time working student. Instead of being separated into mini-factories inside the USMC, they were placed into many different departments and allowed to work in unison with the actual factory workers. This was an evolutionary process. The boys would start in the mini-factories under the supervision of their instructors; when the instructor felt they had achieved an advanced knowledge of the work it was put to the school board. These instructors were all trained in the areas they taught and were chosen by the board of the vocational school. Each student had to be assessed by the vocational school board, which consisted of five members, the mayor, a representative of the USMC, and three school committee members, and then voted into a full-time position. Once in a full-time position they earned better wages and worked in the actual factory environment. [9] While this appeared to be the best way to learn not many students were allowed to go full-time. In 1911, however, only eight were allowed. Before they went into full-time student positions, they were part time. Part-time students were just the students learning with the school instructors. This school provided a way for students to work in a factory environment without actually being factory workers, or being indentured to the manufacturer. (see report )

During the course of the school there was a very large dropout rate. Out of classes that were averaging around 80-120 boys a year, approximately one tenth of these boys would graduate. In 1914 there were only 13 boys that were given certificates of graduation. Even though they dropped out, most students coming out of this ended up in the various trades. Twenty nine and a half percent of the boys entered into the shoe factories and 21.5 % of the boys entered into the factories that make the machinery that those shoemakers’s use. Of the girls from the school, 37.6% went into shoe manufacturing. The shoe industry was a big part of Beverly’s history. The USMC played a key role in making the machinery needed for shoe factories. The Industrial School contributed 98 students who had attended recently, both male and female, to the shoe industry in 1914 alone. [10] This school was an infinite supplier, fulfilling the demand for competent, inexpensive workers. (see report )

In 1915 the Industrial School was the only school acknowledged and commended on a national level for its spectacular results in training students. The leading factor for this was stated to be the strong connection between the USMC, with George Vose as its representative on the Industrial School board. What was at first an experiment became a leading producer of talented young men and women, who were eagerly climbing into the economic ladder at a rather young age. [11] This leads one to believe that the dropout rate was not viewed as a problem and they were only looking to give the students a better knowledge of the job at hand. It does not appear that graduation was really a large part of the mission of the school. The mission appeared to be just to give the students the most preparation they could before the students entered into a factory atmosphere.

Beverly had another trade school that was established in 1926. This school, quite simply named Beverly Trade School, was unlike the Industrial School. While the Industrial School focused on placing the students immediately into factory work, the new trade school gave a more rudimentary knowledge to its students. It began with courses in auto-repair, cabinet making, printing, and sheet metal. Over the next 20 years the school added new courses. In 1928 it added a carpentry course, in 1936 a pattern-making course, and in 1946 it established a machine shop. The reason why machine shop was introduced so late was probably due to the existence of the Industrial School, which already specialized in that type of training. [12]

The Industrial School underwent some changes over the course of its existence. One major change was the addition of a carpentry course between 1945-1946. This was made possible through their connection with the North Shore Masters Builders Association. With all of these ties to other various industries and the high school, the name seemed to be inappropriate. It was not by any means an “independent” Industrial School. In October of 1928 the Board of Trustees changed the name to the “Beverly Cooperative Trade School”. [13] This name seemed much more fitting, and remained the same until the end of the school sometime in the late 1970’s. As time went on the schools began to collaborate much more closely and in many respects merged. For example, they had the same school board. By the end of the course of vocational and industrial education, and the end of the USMC in the late 1970’s, the schools had all become almost one entity including the newer Patten Trade School, established only a few decades earlier, as part of the new Beverly High School.

Another city that had a large industry influencing its development was Lowell. Lowell is well known for its large mills. Lowell also had a connection between schooling and factory work. With an industry like this, they needed to have intelligent, well-trained workers. The school in Lowell was more of a vocational school than an Industrial School; it taught many trades, not only how to work in the factory, as compared to the Beverly school. The school still had more milling machines and accessories than it did for the various other trades that it taught. While the school was for both boys and girls, the girls actually had a direct connection with The Singer Sewing Machine Company. This manufacturer gave the girls division of the evening Industrial School electric sewing machines, and provided trained instructors for the courses that were becoming available in that field in 1926. There were milling classes that were taught at night that had very strict rules on who could instruct the courses and how they were instructed. This was largely because of the need of well-trained personnel in the factory. The evening school was not open to the public, but was a rather private school, which only allowed those, employed in the trade being taught to join. [14]

Both Beverly and Lowell had similar goals. Even though there was a difference in the methods and training, the goals were still the same. The two cities each were centered, at least at the time, on their factories. They were the leading source of jobs in both cities. Both cities were trying to create their own supply of skilled workers for their factories. This would have strong benefits to not only the school, but also the corporation, and the town.

There was an ongoing debate as to whether or not the ties between the factory and the school were good. Some felt that the USMC was gaining much more than the school, and vice-versa. There was a debate in the NEA proceedings from an educator’s point of view as well as a manufacturer’s. In many other cities the students trained in factories were “indentured to the manufacturer”, while in Beverly they were not. Beverly’s system seemed ideal due to the fact that the school was public, and not privately run by the factory. Beverly was divided on the issue. There were many who had strong opinions about the students being used for labor as they were. The largest question raised was: who gains more out of this partnership? The answer is neither. Both contributed their fair share in that the school provided cheap labor for the factory and the factory provided all machines, which the school could not. The students also had normal classes so there was time in which they were not working for the factory, but the factory was still sacrificing its machines. [15]

There has been a long history, of the connection between the factory and the Industrial School in Beverly. From the beginning of the Industrial School there was the USMC to benefit from the new youth labor. From there the factory gained new, experienced young workers. The school in return benefited in that they had a real factory to teach in. There was a mutual bond between the two and it worked for many years. This never died out until there was no longer a factory to train for. This was the connection between them, and the reasons for this are an important part of Beverly’s history.

Works Cited

“Charter” Beverly Trade and Cooperative Trade schools. 1945. Beverly Educational Archives, Beverly High School.

The Annual Report of Lowell, Mass. Public Schools, Lowell, Mass., 1920’s-1930’s.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 1909.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 1910.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 1911.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 1913.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 1914.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 1915.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 1920.

Annual Report of the Trustees of the Industrial School, Beverly, Massachusetts, 1921.

Board of Trustees Minutes, Beverly, Mass, October 26 1928.

National Education Association Proceedings and Addresses, Education of the Trades: From the Standpoint of the Manufacturer, Worchester, Massachusetts, 1903.

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