It Won't Be Yours Today
The death of Harry A. B. Shapiro in September of 1952 was a devastating blow that by all rights should have spelled the end for the New Hampshire School of Accounting and Commerce. Never a large institution, enrollments were at a low point. The schools’ typewriters and business machines were aging and in need of replacement. Gertrude Shapiro had some experience managing the office for the school, but did not have the background one would normally associate with such an institution’s chief executive. When a representative from rival Hesser Business College offered to purchase the school it should have been the easiest thing in the world for Gertrude Shapiro, now the owner and sole proprietor, to sell out and move on. But she didn’t. When she declined to sell, the Hesser representative's response was “that's all right you won't be in business very long anyway” to which Gertrude replied “yes, that may be true, but I am not selling it. It won't be yours today.”
Three days after Mr. Shapiro’s death Gertrude wrote a letter to all students stating: “With the help of our fine faculty and the cooperation of all the students, I feel that our combined efforts will not fail of falter; and that the continued operation and success of the school will be assured.” A notice also ran on the front-page of the Union Leader promoting the future of the school.
Gertrude Shapiro had made her decision: The New Hampshire School of Accounting and Commerce was staying open and would be operating under the same high standards established by her husband.
Mrs. Shapiro’s reasons for continuing with the school were complex. As a widow, she had a significant need to provide for her family and no other obvious means of generating an income. She also had children who were approaching the age at which they could become involved in the running of the school, and she wanted to preserve for them the family business. She was a true-believer in the vision of Harry Shapiro and felt an obligation to carry on his dream.
Educationally, instructors Nellie Young, the school’s Educational Director and Earnest Seavey, who oversaw the advanced accounting courses provided the support and the leadership necessary for the school’s academics. Building and relying on a team of qualified individuals to manage the academic, financial, and legal aspects of the school were hallmarks of Mrs. Shapiro’s leadership. Gertrude also had an obvious affinity for the school’s students and they expressed their support for her and the continuation of the school. She both had to and wanted to continue its operation:
“I felt, at the time, that it was a lifelong dream of my husband’s, it was something that we had worked for for over twenty years. I had a son who was in college and very much interested in the school, and that I had a daughter in high school and I wasn’t sure exactly what her interest would be. Together with the fact that I needed to work, but mainly I think that I wanted to retain the school for the children, and that they were so close to entering the business world it was up to me to give them that opportunity. I think probably at that time, selfishly, also I knew nothing else because I had been with it for twenty years and I had learned a great deal about the college. It was our life, it was my life, and I wasn’t going to let it go down the drain if I could possibly help it.”
As a first order of business, it was necessary to settle Mr. Shapiro’s estate. Maurice Katz, who was married to Gertrude Shapiro’s sister Dorothy and would ultimately serve on the school’s Board of Advisors, knew an up and coming attorney named William S. Green through the synagogue that that the family attended:
“I needed a lawyer to settle the estate. And my brother-in-law said he knew of this young, aggressive lawyer who probably wouldn’t charge me too much money [laughs] ...becoming established in Manchester. Without knowing too much about him I hired him, and he didn’t charge me a great deal of money [laughs]. …he’d become my friend, lawyer, and … instrumental in forming our board of trustees.”
The inventory of Mr. Shapiro's estate placed its value at $16,000, of which $10,000 was allocated as the worth of the school. Only current bills were unpaid. With the need to invest much of the school’s profits into equipment and improvements the Shapiro family lived mostly on Social Security death benefits in the period following Mr. Shapiro’s death.
Mrs. Shapiro initially took on the title of Manager, rather than Headmaster, perhaps feeling that that better expressed her role in the institution. By the time of the school’s commencement in 1953, however, she was using the title of “President,” which remained throughout her time as the chief administrator.
In March of 1953, Instructor John Gains who had taught Economics, Advertising, and Public Relations, worked with students in the March of Dimes drives, arranged speakers for the school, and been a friend and right-hand man for the Shapiro family moved to Washington D.C. to work on the staff of Senator Styles Bridges. This also represented a chance for Mrs. Shapiro to delve deeper into her administrative role and hire new faculty. Gerson Miller, who had a degree from the University of California and extensive experience in newspapers and magazines was hired, continuing the tradition of faculty who had both relevant education and real-world experience.
By September of 1953, it was not clear that the school would have enough students to open. Students tended to enroll in private commercial schools just before classes began. Some students were deciding between work and school, some had not been accepted at their first-choice institutions, some felt they could not afford more traditional colleges, and some simply made up their mind at the last minute. Because of this tendancy, the school encouraged students to walk in and enroll, admitting them between 9 AM and 9 PM daily the week before Labor Day. In 1953, however, the walk-ins were slow in coming, and Ann and Gertrude Shapiro sat and waited, only hitting the number of enrollees necessary to run the school on Thursday night.
The school’s advertisements began targeting Korean War veterans. They represented a new batch of potential students eligible for G.I. Bill benefits, an audience that had generated significant success for the school in previous years. Mrs. Shapiro, who had always worked with students on the financial aspects of their relationship with the school, had a particular method for assuring that veterans paid their tuition bill which she had picked up from a McGraw-Hill salesman. She had students use 88 Hanover Street as the address for delivery of the checks, she would then get money from the bank in an amount adequate to cover the checks, giving to students the difference between the tuition and the check amount, and then deposit the checks the same day.
Mrs. Shapiro also instituted flexible payment plans, allowing students to pay as they went and extend the period of time for full payment, in some cases, beyond their graduation. She recalled Mr. Shapiro being much stricter about on-time payments from students, but viewed her practice as opening educational opportunities to those who otherwise couldn’t afford it.
The school also used its capacity to perform secretarial work for local businesses to generate additional income:
“We accepted mimeographing, from business people, in order to make ends meet. When we got so that we didn't really need that money, I told the secretaries that we would never say no to them, because when we needed them, they were kind enough to give us work. And, when they need us, we are going to be kind enough to do their work. We also did some calculator work for the telephone company. We added different columns and multiplied - easy, but tiring work. I was glad to get the extra work.”
By January of 1953, Gertrude Shapiro had brought in the Speedwriting short hand program. Harry Shapiro, before his death, had urged Gertrude to take on pre-packaged courses such as this. The schools Director, Nellie Young, was initially sceptical of the Speedwriting program. She agreed to travel with Gertrude Shapiro to New York to investigate the program, and emerged as an enthusiastic supporter. The Speedwriting Company had franchised this course to over 400 schools by 1953. The company made profits both on a $10 per-student fee and through the sale of $15 textbooks in exchange for the pre-packaged curriculum. The schools offering the program kept the remaining profits. The six week course cost $100.00. The system used abbreviations rather than symbols, which the company promoted as easier to learn. The New Hampshire School of Accounting and Commerce used the company’s pre-packaged advertisements with the school’s name inserted. Gertrude Shapiro described the course in a 1953 interview: “That’s really shortened longhand” (referring to the use of abbreviations) “We have the only franchise for it in the city.”
Mildred Brouillette, who taught typing and shorthand for a short period of time was likely the first Speedwriting instructor. There were four students in the initial class and two more graduated during the summer of 1953. Harry and Gertrude's daughter Ann Shapiro also leared Speedwiting at that time, and taught the method when she was home from college in the summers.
To help generate revenue in the summer months, a traditional down time for private commercial schools, the school initiated a typing course for teenagers. The program was successful until it was essentially duplicated by a program in the public school system.
Despite the great disruption of Mr. Shapiro’s death, the school’s traditional extracurricular activities, such as the annual picnics and commencement exercises continued uninterrupted. The basketball team took a step upward in 1953, playing a schedule of games against not only local businesses and organizations but also other school teams, such as the Laconia Business College and Nicholas Junior College.
In 1957 Edward M. Shapiro, the son of Harry and Gertrude, joined the school’s staff. His initial title was Guidance Director and Athletics Coordinator. This wasn’t, however, Edward’s first exposure to the school. As a child in the 1940s he would sweep floors and empty wastebaskets so that his parents could keep an eye on him while they ran the school. Gertrude Shapiro claimed that he didn’t do a very good job at his janitorial duties, but his exposure to the school at a young age gave him significant insight into its operations:
“As a janitor, I loved watching my father talk to people and there was a little closet in the side office that he was in that I could hear what was going on. And I learned how he worked and how the enrollment process worked. And how ads were done and how the… as a high school [student], I got a lot of information that, believe it or not, I at age 82 I still use today.”
Upon graduation from high school Edward attend the University of New Hampshire where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. Maintaining what involvement with the school that he could, on weekends he would interview perspective students and promote the school. He later pursued some graduate coursework at Boston University, but did not complete a degree. He then served for 16 months in Korea, becoming a Personnel Sergeant Major in the United States Army.
Upon his return from military service, Edward began to devote his full efforts to the development of a vision that would transforming the school from one focused on training to one that focused on education in the sense commonly thought of in the college environment. Less than a year into his tenure at the school it adopted yet another name: New Hampshire College of Accounting and Commerce. The substitution of “College” for “School” represented the first step in the realization of that vision.