Founding and Early Names
Educational institutions change their name for a variety of reasons. They may evolve to the extent that an existing name no longer reflects their academic offerings or mission, they may re-brand to attract a different mix of students, or try to give outward expression to a break with past practices. Southern New Hampshire University’s history is one of continual efforts to try new things, push forward, and serve audiences for whom higher education is not a guarantee. The result is that the institution has changed its name a number of times to align both with its curricular offerings and the expectations of the students it serves.
In the spring of 1932 Manchester, New Hampshire accountants Joseph F. Moran and Harry A. B. Shapiro formed the accounting firm of Moran and Shapiro. Their goal was to create a partnership that would both perform accounting services for area businesses and provide training for students endeavoring to become accountants, bookkeepers, and secretaries. Moran and Shapiro promoted the school through local newspaper advertisements, providing us with some contemporary information about its name and curricular offerings. The first advertisements for the school ran in June of 1932 in the Manchester Union announcing that classes were forming in the “New Hampshire Accounting Secretarial School.” This was a slightly shortened version of the school’s name based on the demands of advertising space, as the next month the name was rendered in advertisements as “N.H. Accounting and Secretarial School” and then as "New Hampshire Accounting and Secretarial School." The name was simple, descriptive of the courses of training offered, and in keeping with the naming conventions of private business schools. A similarly named school operating at the time was Stone Accounting and Secretarial School in Connecticut, now the Stone Academy. Edward Shapiro, president of the institution from 1971 to 1986, gave some insight into the need for a school name that succinctly described its offerings: “Keep in mind that newspaper ads, you paid by the inch… So, if in the name of the school told what it was, then the rest of the space could be used for information like “earn more money, get ahead in life, prepare yourself for the future.”
While the “Accounting and Secretarial” portion of the name accurately communicated the nature of the school’s training offerings, the “New Hampshire” portion expressed an aspirational rather than current view of the school’s catchment area. Of the first 7 day students, none came from more than 2.5 miles away from the 88 Hanover Street location.
The word “School” instead of “College” is also important to note. The school did not have degree granting authority and did not teach subjects that reflected the traditional liberal arts curriculum of a college. The coursework was practical and limited to subjects focused on accounting and secretarial work. The term “College” was loosely used by some private business schools to connote a higher status. Locally, Hesser Business College and Concord Commercial College included the term in their name despite offering the same kind of vocational training as the New Hampshire Accounting and Secretarial School.
“New Hampshire Accounting and Secretarial School” was the name used to advertise the school until January of 1933. It was at that time that the Moran and Shapiro partnership was dissolved and Harry A. B. Shapiro became the sole proprietor of the school. The secretarial program was discontinued at the same time. No advertisements or other materials concerning the name of the school over the next year have been located.
A cover letter prepared by Harry A. B. Shapiro accompanying a report for the State Furniture Company, Inc. and dated February 27, 1934 is on letterhead for the “New Hampshire School of Accounting and Finance.” This is the earliest indicator of a change in the school’s name. By June of 1934 advertising again resumed under the new name. It was logical for the “Secretarial” portion of the name to be dropped, as the school no longer offered the program. There are two likely sources for the “Accounting and Finance” moniker. The first is the use of a similar name by Joseph Moran for his old accounting school in Portland, Maine, which operated in 1930 as the Maine School of Accountancy and Finance. The other obvious parallel was to the Bentley School of Accounting and Finance, which was founded in 1917 in Boston, Massachusetts and is now Bentley University. The name was likely seen as reflecting both the standard descriptive naming convention of the time and a curriculum that included Business English and Corporation Finance in addition to accounting subjects.