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Evening Classes For Men and Women Bulletin

This Evening School Bulletin, released between 1901 and 1916, contained information on the year's coming evening courses for men and women. Attached is a note addressed to evening students who had taken classes at the institute the previous year. With the tagline “Courses Worth While”, the note implores students to register early. Depicted on the cover of the bulletin is the emblem of the Rochester Athenaem and Mechanics Institute.

1890-91 Student Employment Records

In the 1890s, potential students had to have their employers or another person vouch for them when they applied to take classes at the Mechanic's Institute. But some people didn't have employers. Children, like nine-year-old Max Adler, could enroll in weekday classes, or in Max's case, weekend classes, like Freehand Drawing. The students' names, employers, ages, occupations, and courses were recorded in student employment records, like this one from 1890-91.

1880s Mechanic's Institute Application

While students today can apply to RIT online or via a multi-page paper application, students wishing to apply to take courses at the Mechanic's Institute in the 1880s had only to fill out this single page form with their name, age, occupation, and residence, acquire their employer's (or another respectable individual's) recommendation, and place a "+" next to the day or evening courses they were interested in taking.

1885-86 Enrollment Statistics, from the Mechanics Institute “Past, Present, and Future”

In 1891 two educational institutions merged to create the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute. During its inaugural year, the Institute offered three certificate programs within the fields of mechanical drawing, architectural drawing, art and design. While commonly characterized as a vocational school, the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute additionally provided liberal arts education early on.