Lowell Technological Institute - Pickout Yearbook (Lowell, MA)

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Sntrobucmg tfje Jftrgt $tcfeout Cbttor As you may have gleaned from other sources, this is the 20th anniversary of the Pick ' out. In those twenty years the book has grown from the status of a rather shaky activity to the well-founded and substantial institution that it now is. This result is due more than anything else to the courage and initiative of the first few Editors and Managers, With this in mind we wrote the first Editor of the book, Mr. H. A. Currier, for just an idea about the founding of the Pickout, and he was kind enough to send the following letter telling about it. Accordingly, we submit it to you, hoping that it may be of interest not only to the students of today, but also to any of the alumni reading these pages. ftfje JBirtj of tfje $ufeout Your Board has honored me by requesting a few remarks to be published in the 1925 Pickout and as its first editor, I can think of no words more fitting to the occasion than a concise review of the Birth of the Pickout. It happened that the writer and another fellow (just who I can ' t remember) were going out fuss- ing, or in other words — calling on some of the girls, one evening, and while waiting in Claude Plow- man ' s room chanced to pick up a year book issued by the University of Alabama. Immediately we were struck with the idea of publishing a similar book for Textile. The next day we approached Pete Varnum, our Class President, with the idea and he suggested we call a meeting of the class, to sound them out on supporting such a publication. That afternoon the meeting was called and the idea met with enthu- siasm. We proceeded to elect a staff and as the writer had sponsored the idea, he was naturally made the goat and elected editor. A name must be chosen, so after the usual suggestions The Pickout was selected as being both appropriate and symbolic. After the meeting adjourned, it was with some mis- givings that we faced the task confronting those of us who had been responsible for starting it, but with the enthusiastic support we had met with, we went to our task. We were very fortunate in having as our business manager Guy Newcomb, a live wire, and at our first meeting he showed us how important it was to have 24

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T II K P I C KO IT 1 9 25 Ai Edwin Wells, B.T.E., Instructor in Electrical Engineering. Lowell Textile School. 1920. Marconi Wireless and Telegraph of America. Lowell Electric Light Corporation. Residence: Dracut, Mass. Philip Machon, Instructor in Wool Sorting. Silesia Worsted Mills. North Chelmsford, Mass. Residence: North Chelmsford, Mass. Russell Metcalf Fox, Instructor in Textile Design. Massachusetts Cotton Mills. Appleton Company Residence: 359 Beacon St., Lowell, Mass. Charles Arthur Everett, B.T.C., Instructor in Dyeing Lowell Textile School, 1919. North Berwick Company, North Berwick, Me. Residence: 12 Thirteenth St., Lowell, Mass. Roland Taylor Pihl, S.B., Instructor in Mathematics. Residence: 111 Parkview Ave., Lowell, Mass. Harold Steigler, B.T.C., Ph.D., Instructor in Chemistry. Residence: Lawrence, Mass. Lester Whiting Ball, Instructor in Mechanical Drawing. Tufts College, 1915. Turbine Engineer, Gen?ral Electric Company. Marine Engineer, U. S. Navy. Residence: R. F. D. No. 2, Chelmsford, Mass. Walter Ballard Holt, Bursar. Ruth Foote, A.B., S.B., Registrar. Florence Moore Lancey, Librarian. Helen Gray Flack, S.B., Secretary. Gladys Pearl Braden, Clerk. Mona Blanche Palmer, Clerk. Residence: 18 Moltnt Vernon St., Lowell, Mass. Residence: Kimball St., Nashua, N. H. Residence: 46 Victoria St., Lowell, Mass. Residence: 4-15 Stevens St., Lowell, Mass. Residence: 77 Woodward Ave., Lowell, Mass. Residence: 685 Westford St., Lowell, Mass. 23

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THE PICKOUT 19 25 money to work with and conceived the idea of writing each of the trustees for a donation to help start our work. They all responded with generous contributions and assured our success at the start. We never quite got over the display of nerve we had in suggesting to Mr. Aver that we would like permission to dedicate the book to him and at the same time suggested that he give us a donation. However, our display of nerve was successful in both respects. Our campaign for advertising was launched and was very remunerative, so we were able to let a contract to the printer. The next step was to get material to put into our publication. This was no easy task as our inexperience caused us to flounder around a bit. We made one bad mistake in our zeal to have our volume as bulky as possible, by selecting a paper too heavy for our binding and I notice my original copy is barely hanging together. Si Haskell was appointed staff artist and with his able pen we were able to get some illustrations together, depicting our thoughts and ideas, to adorn the various articles. At the last moment before going to press, we found ourselves short some illustrations for captions of various articles and so everyone pitched in and tried out his artistic talents, not excluding the editor, himself. In fact, it was with some pride that he looked upon his artistic attempt at the illustration heading the article on the doings of the athletic association. It was merely a picture of an open safe marked empty but was so true of the finances of the T. A. A. in those years. As you who have been on the staff in later years realize, it was necessary for us all to fill in many a blank page, so we turned our hands to poetry and prose. Some of it was possibly far-fetched, but it served its purpose and helped us put the book across. You can well imagine our excitement when the printer showed us the first completed copy. It was a crude publication we will now admit, but our dream was launched and out on the water of the future, and it is with a feeling of pride and satisfaction that we see the work we started, kept on. The subsequent volumes have been far superior to our product, showing that practice makes perfect, and I cannot help but express my gratitude to the men who have carried on the work so ably, and I sincerely hope the generations to come will keep up their interest and continue the Pickout for ever and anon. H. A. Currier, Editor 1006. 25