The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (est.1795) of Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, was "formed for the sole purposes of promoting the mechanic arts

Mechanic arts

Mechanic arts is an obsolete and archaic term. In the medieval period, the Seven Mechanical Arts were intended as a complement to the Seven Liberal Arts, and consisted of weaving, blacksmithing, war, navigation, agriculture, hunting, medicine, and the ars theatrica. In the 19th century it referred...

 and extending the practice of benevolence." Founding members included Paul Revere

Paul Revere

Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...

, Benjamin Russell

Benjamin Russell (journalist)

Benjamin Russell was an American journalist, born in Boston.-Early life:Benjamin Russell was born on 13 September 1761, son of John Russell, a stonemason...

, and others. Through much of the 19th century, the association organized conferences and exhibitions devoted to innovation in the mechanical arts.

History

The group first met in 1795 at the Green Dragon Tavern

Green Dragon Tavern

Green Dragon Tavern was a public house used as a tavern and meeting place located on Union Street in Boston's North End.A petition for a license to sell "strong drink" at the Green Dragon was presented in 1714. The property had been inherited by Mehitable Cooper from her father, William Stoughton,...

. Paul Revere acted as chairman. Subsequent meetings took place at Concert Hall

Concert Hall (Boston, Massachusetts)

The Concert Hall was a performance and meeting space in Boston, Massachusetts, located at Hanover Street and Queen Street. Meetings, dinners, concerts, and other cultural events took place in the hall.-Architecture:...

 and elsewhere. The group officially incorporated in 1806. Its constitution states:

"It is universally admitted that the combined operation of the mechanic powers hath been the source of those useful inventions and scientific arts, which have given to polished society its wealth, conveniences, respectability, and defence, and which have ameliorated the condition of its citizens. Rational, therefore, is the inference, that the association of those who conduct those powers will prove highly beneficial to them, by promoting mutual good offices and fellowship; -- by assisting the necessitous; -- encouraging the ingenious; -- and rewarding the faithful."

Founding members included tailors, hatters, hairdressers, bakers, blacksmiths, whitesmiths

Whitesmith

A whitesmith is a person who works with "white" or light-coloured metals such as tin and pewter. While blacksmiths work mostly with hot metal, whitesmiths do the majority of their work on cold metal .The term is also applied to metalworkers who do only finishing work – such as filing or polishing –...

, goldsmiths, watchmakers, coopers

Cooper (profession)

Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...

, engine-builders, painters, printers, bookbinders, booksellers, curriers

Currier

A currier is a specialist in the leather processing industry. After the tanning process, the currier applies techniques of dressing, finishing and colouring to the tanned hide to make it strong, flexible and waterproof...

, shipwrights, riggers

Rigging

Rigging is the apparatus through which the force of the wind is used to propel sailboats and sailing ships forward. This includes masts, yards, sails, and cordage.-Terms and classifications:...

, sailmakers, ropemakers, cabinet-makers, housewrights, masons, bricklayers, paint-sellers, saddlers, farriers

Farrier

A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves...

, furriers, cordwainers

Cordwainer

A cordwainer is a shoemaker/cobbler who makes fine soft leather shoes and other luxury footwear articles. The word is derived from "cordwain", or "cordovan", the leather produced in Córdoba, Spain. The term cordwainer was used as early as 1100 in England...

, silk-dyers. Among the first members were Paul Revere and Paul Revere, Jr., goldsmiths; Benjamin Russell, printer; David West, bookseller; Samuel Perkins, painter; Ephraim Thayer, engine-builder; Jedediah Lincoln, housewright; Edmund Hartt

Edmund Hartt

Edmund Hartt was a master carpenter and owned the shipyard in Boston, Massachusetts where was constructed in 1797. He also built , , and .Hartt is buried at Copp's Hill Burying Ground in Boston.- References :...

, shipwright; Samuel Gore, painter; and several dozen others.

Later members included Alexander Parris

Alexander Parris

Alexander Parris was a prominent American architect-engineer. Beginning as a housewright, he evolved into an architect whose work transitioned from Federal style architecture to the later Greek Revival. Parris taught Ammi B. Young, and was among the group of architects influential in founding what...

 and Joseph T. Buckingham

Joseph T. Buckingham

Joseph Tinker Buckingham was a journalist and politician in New England. He rose from humble beginnings to become an influential conservative intellectual in Boston.-Family and early life:...

.

Festivals

Beginning in 1809, the association held "Triennial Festivals" which continued through the 19th-century. The festivals alternated venues, sometimes taking place in Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall , located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain, and is now part of...

, sometimes in the Music Hall, and elsewhere.

Library

In 1820, William Wood established a library that continued under the supervision of the main body of the association until 1828, when the newly formed Mechanic Apprentices Library Association

Mechanic Apprentices Library Association (Boston, Massachusetts)

The Mechanic Apprentices Library Association of Boston, Massachusetts, functioned as "a club of young apprentices to mechanics and manufacturers .....

 took over. The Apprentices Library then operated for several decades thereafter. In 1892 the library ceased; its collections were "distributed throughout repositories in Boston.

Exhibitions

From 1837, the association organized large exhibitions of mechanical innovations and related curiosities. The exhibitions, which took place every two years, were held in large indoor spaces in various venues in town, such as Quincy Hall

Quincy Market

Quincy Market is a historic building near Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was constructed 1824–1826 and named in honor of Mayor Josiah Quincy, who organized its construction without any tax or debt.-History:...

.

Other activities

Throughout its history, the association collected and distributed charitable funds to the needy.

"In 1829, the MCMA established an evening school in the mechanical arts; it functioned until 1859. In 1900 the first classes of the MCMA Trade School began. The Trade School provided classes in electrical wiring, drafting, and carpentry, among many others. During World War I, the enrollment dropped substantially and the school closed in 1917. Following this closure the MCMA promoted classes held at the Wentworth Institute of Technology

Wentworth Institute of Technology

The Wentworth Institute of Technology is an independent, co-educational, technical design and engineering college located in Boston, Massachusetts...

 in Boston."

Beginning in the late 1840s, the association "invested in the Revere Hotel" (also known as Revere House

Revere House

Revere House was an upscale hotel in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts, located on Bowdoin Square in the West End. Fire destroyed the building in 1912.-Brief history:...

).

Buildings

Around the 1860s and 1870s, the association's building, known as Mechanics Hall, was located at Bedford Street and Chauncy Street.

A new building, Mechanics Hall

Mechanics Hall (Boston, Massachusetts)

Mechanics Hall was a building and community institution on Huntington Avenue at West Newton Street, from 1881 to 1959. Commissioned by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, it was built by the noted architect William Gibbons Preston. The building was located between the Boston and...

, was constructed for the association in 1881, on Huntington Avenue

Huntington Avenue (Boston)

Huntington Avenue is a secondary thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts beginning at Copley Square, and continuing west through the Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood, and Mission Hill neighborhoods...

, at West Newton Street, near Copley Square

Copley Square

Copley Square is a public square located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, named for the donor of the land on which it was developed. The square is named for John Singleton Copley, a famous portrait painter of the late 18th century and native of Boston. A bronze statue of...

. Architect William Gibbons Preston designed it. Like its predecessor, the new Mechanics Building featured an auditorium, sometimes referred to as the Grand Hall. The building was demolished in 1959.

By 1988, the association conducted its business from quarters in Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

.

Further reading

• William Hilliard
  William Hilliard
  William Hilliard was a publisher and bookseller in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the early 19th-century. He worked with several business partners through the years, including Jacob Abbot Cummings, James Brown, and Charles C. Little...
  
  . An address delivered before the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, October 4, 1827 : being the anniversary for the choice of officers, and the seventh triennial celebration of their public festival. Cambridge [Mass.] : Printed by Hilliard, Metcalf, and Co., 1827.
• Howard M. Wach. "Expansive Intellect and Moral Agency": Public Culture in Antebellum Boston. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 107 (1995)

Festivals

• Order of exercises at the triennial celebration of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Thursday, December 21, 1809. [United States : s.n., 1809]
• Order of performance for the second triennial celebration of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, December, 17, 1812. [Boston, 1812]
• Order of services at the eighth triennial festival of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, on Thursday, October 7, 1830, at the Federal Street Baptist Meeting-House. [Boston, 1830]
• Sixteenth triennial festival ... celebrated at Faneuil Hall ... 1854. Boston, Printed for the Association by Isaac R. Butts, 1854.
• Nineteenth triennial festival at Faneuil Hall, Oct. 14, 1863. : Address by W.W. Clapp, Jr. Speeches by Frederick H. Stimpson, Esq., Hon. A.H. Rice, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Prof. Emory Washburn, Mayor Lincoln, Prof. Wm. B. Rogers, Hon. George Washington Warren. Boston: : Wright & Potter, printers, 4 Spring Lane, 1863.
• The twenty-first triennial festival at Music Hall, November 19, 1869. Boston, Mudge, 1869.

Exhibitions

• First exhibition and fair of the Massachusetts charitable mechanic association, at Faneuil and Quincy halls, in the city of Boston, September 18, 1837. Boston: Published by Dutton and Wentworth, for the Association, 1837.
• The second exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association: at Quincy Hall, in the city of Boston, September 23, 1839. Boston : Published by Isaac R. Butts, for the Association., 1839.
• The third exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association: at Quincy Hall, in the city of Boston, September 20, 1841. Boston : Press of T.R. Marvin, 24 Congress Street., 1841.
• The fourth exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association: at Quincy Hall, in the city of Boston, September 16, 1844. Boston: Published by Crocker and Brewster, for the Association, 1844.
• The Fifth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association: at Faneuil and Quincy Halls in the city of Boston, September, 1847. Boston : Published by Dutton and Wentworth for the Association, 1848.
• The sixth exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association: Faneuil and Quincy Halls, in the city of Boston, September, 1850. Boston: Eastburn's Press, 1850.
• The seventh exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association: Faneuil and Quincy Halls, in the city of Boston, September, 1853. Boston: Press of Damrell & Moore and George Coolidge, 1853.
• The eighth exhibition of the Mass. Charitable Mechanic Association: Faneuil and Quincy Halls, in the city of Boston, September, 1856. Boston: Press of Geo. C. Rand & Avery, No. 3 Cornhill., 1856.
• Catalogue and journal of the ninth exhibition for the encouragement of American manufactures and the mechanic arts. Published at the halls of exhibition, by George Coolidge. [1860]
• Eleventh exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, at Faneuil and Quincy halls, in the city of Boston, September and October, 1869. Boston: Wright & Potter, printers, 1869.
• 12th exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, at Faneuil and Quincy halls, Boston, September and October, 1874. Boston: Mudge, 1874. Google books
• Catalogue of articles on display ... Faneuil and Quincy Halls, of the twelfth exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston, September and October, 1874. Boston: Rand, Avery, and Co., printers, 1874. Google books
• Visitors' guide to the Massachusetts Mechanics' Exposition, opened September 2, 1878 thirteenth industrial and art exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, holden in the new exposition buildings fronting Park Square and Columbus Ave., Boston. Boston : W.R. Haughton, 1878.
• Mechanic Association : fourteenth triennial exhibition. Open September and October. Huntington Ave. and West Newton St. Boston. Boston : Rand, Avery, 1881. Google books
• Fifteenth exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association in the building on Huntington Avenue and West Newton Street, Boston, September and October, 1884. Boston : Alfred Mudge & Son, 1884. Google books
• Report of the eighteenth triennial exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association held in their exhibition Building, Boston, October and November, 1892. Boston : The Association, 1893.
• Illustrated fine art catalogue of the nineteenth triennial exhibition: Oct. 2 to Nov. 30, 1895, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. Boston, 1895.
• Official catalogue. Twentieth triennial exhibition. December, 1898. Boston, Rockwell & Churchill Press, 1898.

External links

• Boston Athenaeum. Image of exhibit interior, ca.1881

Image gallery

MCMA exhibitions
Mechanics Hall, Bedford Street (1860s-1870s)
Mechanics Hall, Huntington Avenue (1881-1959)