Massachusetts School of Art (1929-1958)
The demand for technically trained artists outweighed the demand for new art teachers, and in 1926, the Massachusetts Normal Art School reflected this in the adoption of their new name: the Massachusetts School of Art. Students and faculty celebrated the opening of a new school building in 1930 at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Longwood Avenue, then considered part of Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. Frances Euphemia Thompson, one of the first women of color to attend the school, returned to receive her B.S. in Art Education, graduating in 1936. Her thesis studied how art education could benefit students in rural, segregated schools like in her home state of Tennessee. She was granted the Rosenwald Fellowship to travel and study in Europe, but her continuing education was cut short due to German military actions. She returned to Tennessee, where continued her career as an influential painter, sculptor, and educator. This era in the school’s history was marked by the country’s entry into World War II and the Cold War that followed. Students and faculty supported the war effort and discovered how their art skills could be applied to modern industries, such as by creating Civil Defense Posters or by working in the drafting room at the M.I.T. Chemical Warfare lab.
School building on Longwood Avenue, opened to students in 1930.
Plaster cast of a gargoyle busy of alumnus (1916) and faculty (Perspective and Drawing) Theron Cain.
The bust of alumnus and professor Theron Cain was created in 1929 for the façade of the school's new Longwood building, but the project was never completed.
Students with woodworking tools, undated.
Letter from M.I.T. Chemical Warfare Service Development Laboratory, 1942.
This letter informed the President of the Massachusetts School of Art of four former students working in the Chemical Warfare Service Development Laboratory drafting room.
Massachusetts School of Art promotional poster featuring the school's war efforts, ca. 1943.
Letter from the Massachusetts School of Art Alumni Association, 1944.
This letter detailed the Massachusetts School of Art Alumni Association's concerns that the school would be forced to vacate its building on Longwood Avenue in order to provide space for the Department of Health and its wartime efforts
Students May Stevens and Elizabeth Sanborn at [etching press], 1944.
Brooch of student Elinor Lynch, class of 1947
Seventy-fifth anniversary booklet featuring student artwork, 1948.
M.A. House Bill No, 65, 1950.
M.A. House Bill No. 65 granted the Massachusetts School of Art the ability to award Bachelor of Fine Arts Degrees.
Students creating Civil Defense posters, 1952.
Frances Euphemia Thompson speaking to a group of children, undated.
Fashion show pamphlet, undated.
Fashion students, undated.
Fashion show pamphlet, undated.