Industrial School Records
name: label: Collection Creator
content: United Shoe Machinery Corporation
setName: label: See more items in
content: United Shoe Machinery Corporation Records
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1909 - 1938
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0277, Series 11
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: About 1909, United Shoe Machinery initiated its own state-chartered industrial school, where generations of future workers and managers were trained. The newly formed Beverly Industrial School was "the first successful school for mechanics in the United States," according to New England Magazine in 1911. Two groups, each consisting of thirty-five young men, alternated between the factory and Beverly High School, and before that the adjacent McKay School, spending one week at the factory and then one week at the high school. Coinciding with the opening of the United Shoe Manufacturing Corporation in Beverly came a local and state movement for industrial training in high schools. 

Two groups, A and B, each consisting of thirty-five young men, alternated between the United Shoe Machinery factory and Beverly Industrial School, spending one week at the factory and then one week at the high school.   Instruction included mathematics, chemistry, electricity, mechanics, mechanical drawings, blueprint reading,  English civics, and industrial economics. The machinist-instructors taught both in the factory and the classroom, while subject specialists taught the other subjects.  Beverly Superintendent Adelbert L. Safford said, "Today we need men who can do things, men who can create not only with the brain--and it takes brains to be a good mechanic or a good farmer in this age--but with skilled hands as well."  

Fourteen young men graduated from the Beverly Industrial School on December 18, 1912.  The school would undergo several name changes--Beverly Independent Industrial School; Beverly Industrial Training School; the Beverly Cooperative Trade School (1925-circa 1980); Claude H. Patten Trade School (1968) opened at the new Beverly High School;  and the Claude H. Patten Trade School Vocational High School (1970-1995). The Vocational High School eventually ceased operation in 1995.

In addition to teaching skills in the industrial school, United Shoe also established a program to teach its immigrant workforce English.  Using the English for American Citizenship Program (Industrial Series, 1919) the program not only taught the workforce to speak English, it taught life lessons in "punching the clock," "buying clothes," "spending money," "asking for directions," and "buying groceries." Prepared by the Massachusetts Department of Education, University Extension, the Industrial Series Program was free to all residents of the State of Massachusetts.  The courses were wide ranging, and included language, economics, mathematics, government, civil service, drawings, electricity, natural science, and homemaking. Courses were also taught for teachers and were held at Boston area schools such as Simmons College, Boston University, and Franklin Union.

Helping its immigrant workforce was just one example of United Shoe fostering skills for living in the world.  United Shoe also sought to weave into its English lessons and hands-on training with machinery, "civic literacy" with lessons about Washington's Birthday, the flag, and the Constitution. A page from an employee's copybook shows a lesson an employee practiced writing titled, "The Declaration of  Independence."  

This series primarily consists of textbooks and lesson plans used for teaching the English language and American citizenship to immigrants.  Most of the texts promote middle class values and habits along with instruction in the language.  The earliest textbook, English for Foreigners, dates from 1909.  There are also a number of students' copy books, 1935-1938, containing practice writing and spelling exercises.  In addition, one folder contains a number of miscellaneous lessons and teaching aids, which were used for English and civics instruction.  These include lessons on "Keeping the Child Well," Care of the Eyes, and "How to be Happy;" a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance; labels and cards containing words such as "up," "down," "push;" and cut out pictures from magazines, evidently for use as visual aids.  There are also application forms for naturalization, United States Department of Labor Citizenship Declaration Cards, circa 1911, and a number of plant survey cards for English and citizenship classes. Included are English lessons for immigrant employees seeking American citizenship.  Prepared by the Massachusetts Department of Education, University Extension, the courses offered were free to all residents of the State of Massachusetts.  The courses were wide ranging, and included language, economics, mathematics, government, civil service, drawings, electricity, natural science, and homemaking. Courses were also taught for teachers and were held at Boston area schools such as Simmons College, Boston University and and Franklin Union. 

There are seventy-two lessons from the "intermediate series" (bound) and thirty-six lessons from the "industrial series" (loose). The lessons consist of short written selections and lists of sentences to be repeated by the participant.  The lesson topics included buying clothes, buying groceries, riding on the elevator, being a good American, civic creed, and Independence Day.