Bradford Durfee Textile School photographs

Chartered by the state legislation in 1895, Bradford Durfee Textile School (BDTS) opened its doors in March of 1904 in downtown Fall River, with 5 day students and 163 evening students. Its original purpose was to offer courses in textile manufacture and chemistry to educate a large local population of mill workers. Some examples of the classes offered are documented by the photographs. They include subjects like: advanced designing, electrical laboratory, motor testing, hand warping, loom, mechanical drawing and machine shop to name a few.

The school expanded over the years to offer courses of study in engineering and commercial art in addition to textile technology and chemistry. As a result of the curricular changes the name of the school changed several times: Bradford Durfee Textile School of Fall River, Massachusetts (1904-1946), Bradford Durfee Technical Institute (1947-1958), and Bradford Durfee College of Technology (1958-1960)

In 1960 the Bradford Durfee College of Technology combined with New Bedford Institute of Technology to form Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute, which in 1991 became the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. For a more detailed account of the history of the school and of Fall River at the time see Walter J. Cass, A history of Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute in cultural perspective. PhD Dissertation, Boston University, 1967.