Pauline Agassiz Shaw (1841-1917) founded the North Bennet Street Industrial School in 1881 to train newly arrived Italian and Jewish people in skilled trades. America’s first trade school, the school now holds an international reputation for courses in fine furniture, jewelry, violin making, carpentry and piano and violin restoration. Shaw, active in social reform, gave financial support to the woman suffrage movement. She is also responsible for the institutionalization of kindergarten in Boston Public Schools. In 1857, the School Committee accepted responsibility for continuing these kindergartens, gradually adding more. Today, one of Boston’s public schools in Dorchester is named for her.
