The Farm and Trades School / Thompson's Island, Boston, Mass

The Farm and Trades School

Published by The Farm and Trades School, Boston, 1909

About this Item

The Farm and Trades School. Heavily illustrated brochure titled The Farm and Trades School / Thompson?s Island, Boston, Mass (Boston; The Farm and Trades School, 1909). Paper wraps with the cover title, Views of Thompson?s Island, and the school?s circular logo; tied with yellow cord; [60] pp; illustrated with pictures reproduced ?from plates used in illustrating the School paper and annual reports of the School for the past few years?, along with three maps and two charts; measures approximately 8.75 x 5.5 inches. Printed by The Farm and Trades School Press. VG+ condition; corner crease on front cover; diagonal crease on the back cover; the interior pages are in Fine condition. [17-1668] The foreword written by Charles H. Bradley, Superintendent in 1909, states, in part, that the Farm and Trades School was instituted in 1814 as a private school for boys. ?It has owned and has been located on Thompson?s Island, which is used exclusively for the work of the School. Receives boys between the ages of ten and fourteen years. No boys are taken except such as the Managers regard as desirable. Accommodations for 100. Agriculture forms the basis of the school course. With it are correlated the studies that are taken in the regular Grammar School grades. Religious instruction is provided. Industrial Training is given in various lines, mechanical drawing, wood-work, machine-work, blacksmithing, painting, printing, office-work, farming, handling of boats, etc. Music, both vocal and instrumental is taught, a brass band affording opportunity for the latter. Cottage Row, a miniature city, with its various departments modelled on actual usage, furnishes practical lessons in citizenship government, politics, business forms, the transfer of property, etc. The Farm and Trades School Bank teaches thrift and the routine of banking with real money. Thompson?s Island Beacon, the School paper published monthly, tells of the work in words of the boys.? Photographs include views of the various school buildings and grounds, interior views, boys at play and work, farm scenes, alumni, classrooms, and several schooners wrecked near the wharf in the gale of 1898. The maps show Thompson?s Island and its location within Boston harbor and the horizon direction of the sun from the school?s observatory. The charts show a Plan of Study and graphs of monthly average temperature, amount of sunshine and precipitation. The website of the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands states ?A residential school for boys has been located on Thompson?s Island since 1835 when the Boston Aylum for Indigent Boys and the Boston Farm School Society merged and moved to the island as the Boston Aylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys, popularly called the Boston Farm School. In 1907 its name was changed to the Farm and Trades School to reflect a change in its mission. In 1955 it became Thompson?s Academy, a college preparatory school for urban boys. Thompson?s Academy closed in 1975. Thompson Island is now home to Thompson Island Outward Bound.?. Seller Inventory # 000544

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Farm and Trades School / Thompson's ...

Publisher: The Farm and Trades School, Boston

Publication Date: 1909

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Very Good