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| BB25:
Statues and Easter Parade Commonwealth Avenue Mall The Commonwealth Avenue Mall is worth exploring as a loop off of the Back Bay Walk. Three of the Mall's statues were created by women: historian Samuel Eliot Morison by Penelope Jencks (near Exeter Street); Argentine president Domingo Sarmiento by Yvette Compagnion (near Gloucester Street); and Norwegian explorer Leif Eriksson by Anne Whitney (see B16) (near Charlesgate). The bust of Boston Mayor Patrick Collins (near Clarendon Street) was created by Theo Ruggles Kitson and her husband, Henry Hudson Kitson. The Collins statue is flanked by two women, one symbolic of Ireland, his birthplace, and the other of America. A women's memorial statue is being planned for the space between Fairfield and Gloucester Streets. Current
plans call for it to represent three women: American Revolution-era correspondent
Abigail Adams (see D13), suffragist Lucy Stone (see D6), and poet Phillis Wheatley
(see C5 and D19). Julia Oliver O'Neil (1909-1978) and her ten daughters became
famous in the Commonwealth Avenue Easter Parade. Every year, between 1940 and
1959, she made matching outfits for her daughters and their picture was printed
in journals and newspapers all over the world. |
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| BB26: Harriet Hemenway and the Massachusetts Audubon Society 273 Clarendon Street (now Hale House)
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BB27: Simmons College Graduate School of Social Work 51 Commonwealth Avenue The Simmons College Graduate School of Social Work, founded in 1904, was the first school of social work to be affiliated with an institution of higher learning. When Simmons College was established as a women's college in 1899, Henry LeFavour, the first president, explained that the college hoped to prepare young women to earn their own livings. Recognizing
that the college's goal was controversial, he explained: "Whether society ought
to be constituted so that women should not need to earn their own living is
a debatable question, but it is evident that the trend of society is now in
the other direction." When the college opened, it offered training in household
economics, secretarial studies, library science, and general science. The household
economics course developed out of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union's
School of Housekeeping (see BB1). Social work was added next, followed by salesmanship
and public health nursing. The salesmanship program -- officially, the Prince
School of Education for Store Service -- also developed out of the Women's Educational
and Industrial Union. Founded in 1905 by Lucinda W. Prince (1862-1935), the
program became so popular that Prince soon teamed up with Simmons College to
offer teacher training courses for her instructors. By 1915, the program was
given its own name - the Prince School of Salesmanship - and it was administered
jointly by Simmons and the Union. By 1918, Simmons assumed complete responsibility
for the school which was located at 49 Commonwealth Avenue (next to the School
of Social Work) in the late 1940s. The Simmons College main campus is located
on The Fenway. It offers an undergraduate liberal arts program and twelve graduate
programs, including the only women's Master of Business Arts program. The MBA
program is housed at 409 Commonwealth Avenue. The School of Social Work building
was owned by Isabella Stewart Gardner's father-in-law, John L. Gardner, who
willed it to his son George, who gave it to Simmons. He was influenced by his
mother, Eliza Endicott Peabody Gardner, whose life-long interest in social work
convinced her son that this was the most appropriate use of their family home.
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