Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association

13th MCMA exhibit, Park Square, 1878

The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (est.1795) of Boston, Massachusetts, was "formed for the sole purposes of promoting the mechanic arts and extending the practice of benevolence."^[1] Founding members included Paul Revere, Benjamin Russell, 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. Paul Revere acted as chairman.^[2][3] Subsequent meetings took place at Concert Hall and elsewhere. The group officially incorporated in 1806.^[4] 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."^[5]

Founding members included tailors, hatters, hairdressers, bakers, blacksmiths, whitesmiths, goldsmiths, watchmakers, coopers, engine-builders, painters, printers, bookbinders, booksellers, curriers, shipwrights, riggers, sailmakers, ropemakers, cabinet-makers, housewrights, masons, bricklayers, paint-sellers, saddlers, farriers, furriers, cordwainers, 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, shipwright; Samuel Gore, painter; and several dozen others.^[6][7]

Later members included Alexander Parris and Joseph T. Buckingham.

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, 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 took over. The Apprentices Library then operated for several decades thereafter.^[8][9][10] In 1892 the library ceased; its collections were "distributed throughout repositories in Boston.^[11]

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.

Other activities

Throughout its history, the association collected and distributed charitable funds to the needy.^[12][13]

"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 in Boston."^[14]

Beginning in the late 1840s, the association "invested in the Revere Hotel" (also known as Revere House).^[15][16]

Buildings

Around the 1860s and 1870s, the association's building, known as Mechanics Hall, was located at Bedford Street and Chauncy Street.^[17][18][19]

A new building, Mechanics Hall, was constructed for the association in 1881, on Huntington Avenue, at West Newton Street, near Copley Square. Architect William Gibbons Preston designed it. Like its predecessor, the new Mechanics Building featured an auditorium, sometimes referred to as the Grand Hall.^[20][21] The building was demolished in 1959.^[22]

By 1988, the association conducted its business from quarters in Quincy, Massachusetts.^[23]

References

1. ^ Constitution of the Massachusetts Mechanic Association, 1795. Reproduced in: Joseph Tinker Buckingham. Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Crocker, 1853; p.6.
2. ^ Joseph Tinker Buckingham. Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Crocker, 1853; p.3-4.
3. ^ Boston Young Men's Christian Association. Historic Boston: sight-seeing tours around the Hub. Pilgrim Press, 1901; p.61-62.
4. ^ Constitution of the Massachusetts Mechanic Association instituted March 15, 1795, and incorporated March 8, 1806. Boston: Printed by J.T. Buckingham, 1814.
5. ^ Constitution of the Massachusetts Mechanic Association, 1795. Reproduced in: Joseph Tinker Buckingham. Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Crocker, 1853; p.6.
6. ^ Buckingham. Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association; p.10. Biographical sketches of early members of the association are included on p.11-49 of Buckingham's account.
7. ^ Constitution of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. 1855.
8. ^ John Hayward. The New England gazetteer: containing descriptions of the states, counties, cities and towns in New England. O. Clapp, 1857; p.56.
9. ^ Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Catalogue of the library. Boston, Damrell & Moore, 1853.
10. ^ Report of the Committee on the Library, in relation to the Mechanic Apprentices Library Association: made at a meeting of the Mass. Charitable Mechanic Association, April, 1859. Boston: Printed at the Office of the Bunker Hill Aurora, 1859.
11. ^ Mass. Historical Society. Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association Records, 1791-1995: Guide to the Collection.
12. ^ Boston directory. 1838.
13. ^ Associated Charities of Boston. A directory of the charitable and beneficent organizations of Boston together with legal suggestions, laws applying to dwellings. Damrell & Upham, 1891; p.207.
14. ^ Mass. Historical Society. Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association Records, 1791-1995: Guide to the Collection].
15. ^ John Hayward. The New England gazetteer: containing descriptions of the states, counties, cities and towns in New England. O. Clapp, 1857; p.56.
16. ^ Buckingham. Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association.
17. ^ Boston directory. 1861.
18. ^ King's handbook of Boston. 1881.
19. ^ Mass. Charitable Mechanic Association. Order of exercises at the dedication of Mechanic's Hall, Tuesday March 27, 1860, commencing at half past seven o'clock. [Boston : s.n., 1860]
20. ^ Proceedings on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the building for all the uses of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, March 15, 1881 : with a description of the proposed building. Boston : Press of Rockwell and Churchill, 1881.
21. ^ Grand Italian opera ... Season of 8 performances ... commencing Monday, March 17, 1890, Mechanics' Building, Grand Hall. [Boston, 1890]
22. ^ http://bpl.org/online/sportstemples/temple.php?temple_id=11
23. ^ Mass. Historical Society. Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association Records, 1791-1995: Guide to the Collection].

Further reading

• William Hilliard. 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.

Electric fountain, 1895 MCMA exhibit

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

• 

  1839

• 

  13th MCMA exhibit, Park Square, 1878

• 

  13th MCMA exhibit, Park Square, 1878

• 

  13th MCMA exhibit, Park Square, 1878

• 

  13th MCMA exhibit, Park Square, 1878

• 

  1881 MCMA exhibit

Mechanics Hall, Bedford Street (1860s-1870s)

• 

  Detail of 1871 map of Boston, showing area of Mechanics Hall at Bedford and Chauncy Streets

• 

  Mechanics Hall, Bedford St.

Mechanics Hall, Huntington Avenue (1881-1959)

• 

  Detail of 1888 map of Back Bay, showing the new Mechanics Hall on Huntington Ave.

• 

  Sportsman's Show, Mechanics Hall, 19th c.

• 

  Sportsman's Show, Mechanics Hall, 19th c.

• 

  Mechanics Hall, Huntington Ave., 1920