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L. Garth Huxtable, class of 1933 (General Design) was born in Nova Scotia and raised in Fitchburg, MA. He designed hundreds of products for major companies, but his most enduring impact was on the shape of American hand and power tools designed for Millers Falls Tools in Montague, Massachusetts. These designs include this Miller Falls Model C 3/8 electric drill and the Plane-R-File from the 1950s, both of which earned international acclaim, winning silver medals at the Triennale di Milano in 1954 and 1957, respectively. His work was known to be simple and direct, with form, function, and construction equally important to his designs. This no-frills take on design also appeared in his work with cookware and tableware.
Albert Petitto, class of 1944 (Art Education), was a sculptor. In 1975, he worked with the United States Army Laboratories in Natick, MA to design the Army’s first new helmet since World War II. Previous helmets proved too heavy and hot to wear, prompting soldiers to remove them while in dangerous war zones. Petitto created the lighter, better-fitting Kevlar helmet that Army soldiers wore from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s.