Early Commencements: 1933 to 1941
Commencement exercises are the culmination of the efforts and achievements of students in their educational pursuits. They celebrate sustained efforts over time and the completion of a curriculum intended to transform students’ lives. Southern New Hampshire University has held commencement exercise since the 1930s, though those exercises have changed dramatically over time.
When the New Hampshire Accounting and Secretarial School was founded in 1932 it was the type of institution that did not traditionally hold public commencement exercises. Students at private business schools could start and complete their training at frequent intervals, so such schools lacked the obvious rhythm of semester-based college education with a definitive end of the school year. Students also attended these schools for job training, not a college campus experience, and typically needed to work, making it difficult to engage in activities not tied directly to their training. Despite these facts, the school held commencement exercises from an early point in its development. This may have been in response to local competitor Hesser Business College’s practice of holding informal graduation exercises in their school building in June of each year.
When did graduation exercises begin? The 1942 commencement was described as the “10th annual,” suggesting that they had been held since the inception of the school. While it seems unlikely that a graduation would have been held in the school’s first year of operation, it is possible that some of the students who had completed programs of only 3 or 4 months in length would have been awarded diplomas toward the end of 1932. The first year for which a graduate list exists is 1933, in which 18 students are recorded.
There are no records that give us a sense of the activities, if any, surrounding the awarding of diplomas from 1932 to 1936. In 1937, however, the school publicly announced its commencement plans. On June 10th a group photograph of 13 members of the New Hampshire School of Accounting and Finance’s graduating class and Harry A.B. Shapiro standing on the Manchester City Library steps appeared in the Manchester Union Leader along with a note that they would “receive their diplomas at exercises on June 23.” A June 23rd article gives us a brief description of the events:
“The New Hampshire School of Accounting and Finance last evening held a banquet and dance at the Bedford Castle, Bedford. Mitchell Burkush acted as toastmaster and H. A. B. Shapiro, C.P.A., headmaster of the school, spoke briefly.
The committee in charge of the affair included Mitchell Burkush, chairman, Jeannett Laverdiere Omer Lacasse and Gertrude Beaudette. Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Bean were host and hostess to the party.”
Already we see the format of a banquet and dance in the evening, which would carry forward for a number of years. While there were remarks by H.A.B. Shapiro and graduating student Mitchell Burkush, there is no indication that there was a commencement speaker. Remarks by the headmaster and the student president would become standard elements of the exercises. The location is also something of a mystery, with no readily available record of something called the “Bedford Castle.” Gerald and Mae Bean were the parents of graduating student Dorothy Mae Bean.
The next year the banquet was held at the Rice-Varik Hotel. Headmaster H.A.B. Shapiro was presented with a desk set, beginning a tradition of presenting teachers and school administrators with small gifts of recognition. That same year, for the first time there was an identified commencement speaker, New Hampshire State Treasurer F. Gordon Kimball. During the early years speakers were generally political figures, academics, or business people from the New England area. In June of 1940, Professor Walter J. Goggin of the College of Business Administration at Boston University was the commencement speaker. As thanks he was sent a news clipping about his speech, a photograph of the banquet, and a check for $6.00 to cover his expenses.
The first listing of students that associates the individuals who graduated with the subjects that they studied is from 1939. Because the school did not have degree granting authority, students were issued diplomas, rather than degrees, for the curriculum they had completed. Certificates were issued to those who had done substantial work but not fully completed a subject area. Awards, based on standards set by the Gregg Publishing Company, were given for more skill-based achievements, such as the ability to type 100 words per minute. Additionally, special recognition was given to students who had won national essay contest awards or Gregg teacher’s certificates. Students could complete a “junior” track in a subject in about one year or a “senior” track in about two. Diplomas were issued in: Complete Accounting, Junior Accounting, Senior Secretarial, Junior Secretarial, Senior Stenographic, Junior Stenographic, and Bookkeeping. The diploma would reflect all of the subject areas completed. For example, Ruth Caldwell Parker received a diploma in Complete Accounting and Senior Secretarial.
The elaborate nature of the school’s recognition of its graduates leads to some confusion around the number of students who graduated in any given year. Newspaper accounts focused on the number of diplomas issued when reporting graduation counts. Originally, those receiving awards also received diplomas or certificates, but as time passed more emphasis was placed on the opportunity to take brush-up courses in typing and short hand, and award recipients did not necessarily complete other program requirements and received no other credentials.
After the relative simplicity of the 1937 commencement, exercises became more elaborate, often featuring an orchestra to provide music for the dancing that followed the ceremonies. The ceremonies featured a head table where the faculty, student government, commencement speaker, and their spouses or guests would sit. The dancing would run late into the night, extending to 2:00AM in 1938. By 1939 there were 200 students and guests in attendance. News accounts of the 1942 ceremony point to “the traditional grand march led by the class president” as a highlight of the activities.