Massachusetts College of Art

Established 1873 as the Massachusetts Normal Art School. Name changed in 1930 as Massachusetts School of Art. and again in 1959 to Massachusetts College of Art.

The Massachusetts College of Art, the sole public free-standing college of art in the U.S., was established as a normal art school per Resolves 1873, c 47, to supply qualified drawing teachers to the public schools, which had been required since 1870 to teach industrial or mechanical drawing (St 1870, c 248), and to train art masters in fine and applied art. Initial enrollment was 133. A faculty of eight reported to the director, who along with the Board of Visitors (four Board of Education members) submitted annual reports to the Board of Education as did other state normal (teaching training) schools.

A four-year curriculum included instrumental and freehand drawing, painting, industrial design, architectural design, building construction, machine drawing, sculpture, and design in the round. Students' work was entered in national and international exhibitions as well as in those mounted at the school. The school's name changed to Massachusetts School of Art (St 1926, c 6) then to Massachusetts College of Art (St 1959, c 246). Meanwhile, management of the school had passed successively to the Dept. of Education (St 1919, c 350, s 56), the Board of Trustees of the State Colleges (St 1963, c 642), the Board of Trustees of State Colleges under the Board of Higher Education (St 1965, c 572), and then to the college's own board of trustees and the Board of Regents of Higher Education (St 1980, c 329, s 112)

From the beginning, curriculum broadened steadily, including more art and design subjects in 1880, teaching methods in 1905, art reproduction processes in 1910, and English, social sciences, and costume design in 1911. Legislation authorized the awarding of degrees: Bachelor of Education (St 1921, c 92), Bachelor of Science in Education for art teacher training (St 1922, c 274), Bachelor of Fine Arts for general design, drawing and painting, fashion design, and illustration (St 1950, c 60), Master of Science for art education in 1972, and Master of Fine Arts in 1977. By 1989, twenty-two undergraduate concentrations were offered by six academic departments: art education, art history, design, fine arts three-dimensional, fine arts two-dimensional, and media and performing arts.

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE: Series relating to the agencies described above can be found by searching the following access points for the time period stated: 1873-1926--Massachusetts. Normal Art School; 1926-1959--Massachusetts School of Art; 1959-present--Massachusetts College of Art.