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History of UMass Dartmouth & the University Archives
Southeastern Massachusetts Historical Collection
Paul Rudolph & His Architecture
Archives of the Center for Jewish Culture
Franco-American Historical Collections
Congressman Barney Frank Archives Collection
Howard T. Glasser Archives of Folk Music and Letter Arts
Swain School of Design 1903-1919
1881-1902 | 1903-1919 | 1920-1929 | 1930-1939 | 1940-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1988
By 1901 the endowment limited the school’s operation, so it closed temporarily. It was felt that its general curriculum competed with the city’s public school system; many suggested Swain School find a niche not covered by other institutions within the city.
It reopened in 1903 as a school of design with the initial expectation that graduates could find jobs in the local textile mills. In 1907 “Designing for Industry” was introduced, along with night and Saturday classes. In 1911, the school established a curriculum in general art, design, manual arts for teachers, and architecture.
The following subjects are listed in the 1911 catalogue as being taught in both day and evening classes, “except those marked D which are taught only in day classes and those marked E are only taught in the evening classes:”
- Elementary design and composition
- Advanced Design
- General free hand drawing
- Modeling in clay and wax
- Pottery-casting and plaster carving
- Wood carving
- Metal Work ( hammered copper, brass, etc.)
- Jewelry
- Book Binding
- Leather Modeling
- Basketry
- Stenciling
- Drawing from cast in all mediums
- Elements of Perspective
- Principles of illustration
- (E) Drawing from life
- (D) Oil painting-Still life and portrait
- (D) Water Color-Still life and portrait
- Tone drawing
- (D) Pictorial composition
- History of art
- Etching
World War I affected attendance at the school, but it was the influenza epidemic of 1917 which caused classes to be interrupted. There was not sufficient student work the following year for an exhibition (1919), but after the war, attendance began to increase.
A $10 prize was offered to students during the teens and the 20s for the best design for the cover of the catalogue.