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MBLC Celebrates 125 Years

1910

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Simmons College, 19101


First Director: The Legislature of 1910 passed an act authorizing the appointment of an agent, with the consent of the Governor. On Oct. 1, 1910, Miss Zaidee M. Brown, for two years organizer for the Division of Educational Extension of the New York State Education Department, began active service as agent of the commission.2

In 1910, the tuition of two librarians, one from Bourne and the other from Sandwich, was paid by the commission at the Summer Library School of Simmons College. Tuition at Simmons College summer school for librarians of Bourne and Sandwich totaled $40.00.3

TODAY: Tuition for the summer 2015 term at the Simmons College School of School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) is $1,188.00 per credit hour.4

What else happened in 1910?

  • The only flight taken together by Wilbur and Orville Wright occurred at Huffman Prairie Flying Field in Dayton, Ohio on May 25, 1910. Because of their father's fear that both sons would be killed in an accident, Orville and Wilbur had promised that they would never fly together. Only one exception was made, on May 25, 1910; Mr. Wright allowed the brothers to share a six-minute flight with Orville piloting and Wilbur the passenger.5
  • The earth passed through the tail of Halley's Comet, and anticipation of the event spawned mass hysteria. The comet was reported in the popular press as an "evil eye of the sky," and the public feared it would "snuff out all life on Earth." "Opportunistic entrepreneurs hawked anti-comet pills, gas masks, and comet-protecting umbrellas."6
  • The American branch of the Boy Scouts was founded. Chicago publisher William Boyce organized several regional U.S. youth organizations, into the Boy Scouts of America. Incorporated on February 8, 1910, the movement soon spread throughout the country.7

References:
1. hdimagegallery.net [link].
2. Twenty-first Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, 1911.
3. Twentieth Report of the Free Public Library Commission of Massachusetts, 1910.
4. www.simmons.edu [link].
5. www.history.com [link].
6. Library of Congress [link].
7. www.history.com [link].