Changing Pictures of Childhood: The Lyman School – Work

Every boy attending the Lyman School was assigned to a specific trade and spent more time working than in the classroom. According to the 1910 U.S. Census, out of 333 boys listed as being enrolled in the school, the top three entries for “Occupation” were the following:

• “Servant” (working in the Farm, Home/House, or Hospital) – 124 (37%)
• “Laborer” (Boiler/Engine Room, Farm, Greenhouse, Home/House, Lawns, Odd Jobs, or Shoe Shop) – 73 (22%)
• “Launderer” 21 (6%)

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• What kind of work is shown in the images, and what are the boys being trained to do? What kind of future are they being prepared for?
• Is the work appropriate for boys their age to be learning? How safe is what they are doing?

Go to the next page in the exhibit: Play.

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Exhibit Navigation for “Changing Pictures of Childhood: A Comparative History of Child Welfare in Westborough”:

• • Introduction
  • Pauper Apprenticeship – Childhood in Early America
    • Stephen Pratt
    • Patience Miller
  • Lyman School for Boys – Childhood in the Nineteenth Century
    • Work
    • Play
    • School Portraits
    • Backgrounds and Narrative Portraits of Boys
    • Institutional Life
    • Image and Reality at the Lyman School
    • Movie, 1946