[Technique] A History of Technique from 1885-1930

[Ta-Chung Ong]

Dear Alumni,
Manboard, Staph, and Grogospeak,

 

I am happy
to report that the second installment of digitized Techniques, from 1911 to 1930, is now available online at
technique.mit.edu. These books cover a period of great changes for both MIT and
Technique. MIT almost merged with
Harvard,[1] and many students dropped out of class to enter WWI.[2] Most
importantly, the school moved out of its Back Bay campus to its present
location.[3] The Techniques from this
period faithfully documented these events, and their availability online is
invaluable to those interested in the history of MIT. To commemorate the
release of these pdfs, this (long) email examines the history of Technique, as a publication and an
organization, up to 1930 as can be best pieced together from the archive.

 

A Book of Record Published by the Junior
Class

 

The first Technique was published in 1885 as an
organized effort from the Junior class, the Class of 1887. The Class felt that
MIT, at the time only 20 years young, had expanded to the point where there
would be demand for an annual. In their editorial, the first Manboard curiously
defined Technique by what it was not
before what it was. Technique was not
“to take the place of the [Course] Catalogue”, was not “to rival the Tech” for the sake of unity, and was
not to favor one fraternity over another in its content. It also should not be
“too smart, too funny, too cutting” or “too dry, too stupid, or too foolish”.
Although the content of Technique
would cater to everyone on campus, it was to be “a class affair” meaning the
Junior class would be in charge of its publication. The first Manboard
predicted, “If each class will make some improvement, in a few years no annual
can compare with our Technique”.

 

In keeping
with this editorial direction, the Techniques
from this period compiled exhaustive records of everyone and everything at
MIT. The first book, for example, included a directory of students[4] with
their home address, results and statistics of athletic events and of the
athletes, and rosters of fraternities and student activities. While it is not
clear to this editor the significance of baseball team fielding averages,
evidently the Manboard at the time found the data compelling for inclusion. Techniques also had a joke section
called the “Grinds” that was indeed not too funny. The Grinds were filled with
inside jokes that according to the books it was only meant to induce a
“chuckle” as opposed to laugh-out-louds. Illustrations played prominent role in
the early Techniques, best
exemplified by the elaborate cover and break page arts and also by the comics
in the Grinds.

 

Photography,
then still a new art, gradually increased its share in Techniques over this period. The most common photos were
portraitures, such as those of the Institute Presidents that were full page and
prominently located at the beginning of the books. The group portrait of the entire
Junior class was presented in a full spread until the practice stopped in the
late 1910s. Sport teams and student activities (the Manboard included) had group
portraits as well, and by the late 1920s also the fraternities. Individual
portraits of graduating Seniors made the book starting in TNQ 1916 as the
“Senior Portfolio” section. The only kind of activities photography were of
sporting events such as track meets and “Field Day”, which pitted the Freshmen
and the Sophomores in a competition of athletic prowess that included football,
baseball, tug-o-wars, relays, and after the campus moved, crews. There were not
many pictures that featured buildings of the old campus, but the new campus was
well celebrated and photographed. Casual photos of student life started to
appear in the mid-1910s, but by the end of 1920s they remained a relatively
minor part of Technique.

 

Technique’s Role in Student Life

 

When
Technique began publication, MIT had only 609 students. By 1915, that number
had almost tripled to 1,816 students, about the size of a present-day New
England liberal art college. With such a small student population, each
successive Junior class was able to organize its members to become shareholders
of Technique and thus care for the
book. In their Sophomore year, the entire class would vote to create a
25-member “Technique Electoral Committee”, and then the Technique Manboard
would be selected amongst themselves from this gang of 25 to make the book the
following year. The Junior class was sincere to make Technique the Junior class’ publication. Before 1924, most of the Techniques were numbered after the
graduating year of the Junior class, rather than the year it was actually
published,[5] and it was common that members of the Technique Manboard were
also serving on the Junior Class Council. 

 

Under this
system, Technique enjoyed a status
amongst students that was perhaps similar to that currently enjoyed by the
Class Ring. Each year, the unveiling of the new Technique happened in April during the first day of the Junior Week
festivities[6] between noon and 2 pm in an event called the “Technique Rush”.
First, the “Technique Band”[7] would lead the students to Killian Court[8] to
surround a small wooden “blockhouse” structure manned by perhaps 1 to 3 people.
Then, the EIC of Technique and the
rest of the retiring Manboard would appear and announce the Manboard for next
year’s book. After the retiring Manboard retreated to a position of safety, a
shot from a starting pistol signaled the students to rush the structure and
jockeye for the best position to acquire the “paddle”[9] that was redeemable
for a copy of Technique. After a
second shot from the starting pistol, the men inside the blockhouse would push
the paddle out from some opening to whoever happened to grab it. The Rush would
go on for some time to determine 20 winners who would receive copies signed by
the Institute President. The first 4 and the 20th book were also
free of charge.

 

Outside of
book publication, in 1922 Technique started
working with the MIT Athletic Association to present the “Technique Award” to
an outstanding member of the track team “as a reward for the consistent good
work and service to Technology”. It was the only athletic award given by an MIT
organization, and the award ceremony took place at the school-wide BBQ (“the
All-Technology Smoker”). The winner received a prize, and his name was engraved
on a large trophy, “the Technique Cup”, along with the names of previous
winners.

 

1924, the Year of Two Techniques

 

In 1923, the
Junior class dramatically relinquished control of Technique and the book officially became a school-wide publication
that allows all undergraduate classes to participate. Volume 38 became the last
book to be numbered after the Junior class, as TNQ 1924. After that, the
numbering of the book was determined by the publication year, so Volume 39,
which was published in 1924, also became TNQ 1924. TNQ 1929 was explicit on the
reasons why this revolution was necessary. Manboard and the Electoral Committee
elections were allegedly popularity contests where “men were often elected who
were unfitted for the work”.[10] Hence, it was felt that Technique could become even better if the Manboard and staff positions
were competitive and open to all classes.

 

The new
competitive Technique was a
four-tiered hierarchy. Talented and involved Freshmen[11] were elected to staff
status in their Sophomore year. The staff was then in turn promoted to a Junior
Manboard[12] of 8 people, and then only 3 were chosen from this group to serve
on the Managing Board[13] during their Senior year. As an added incentive to
produce quality work, Technique started its own honorary society, Grogo, in
1929 to recognize excellence and hard work. As described in my previous essay, A Definitive Biography of Grogo, the
honorary society eventually folded in the early 1940s but its mascot survived
to this day.

 

Surprisingly,
a casualty of this revolution was the cover art design. Since Technique now wished to cater to all 4
classes equally, the Manboards decided that every 4 individual books ought to form
a set. Therefore, the books from TNQ 1926 to TNQ 1930 share the same cover art,
only the colors and the years are different. This practice was swiftly
abandoned by 1931 and new cover designs were once again created for each book
thereafter.

 

If you are
still reading at this point, I thank you for your patience.

 

tl;dr: The old Techniques were so popular that students rushed to buy the first
copies.  

 

Sincerely,

TC

The
Evangelist, 2014

 

[1] TNQ 1919
has the full story, but essentially the estate of a Harvard benefactor sued and
the deal fell apart.

[2] A “Post
War Class of 1918” existed for students coming back from military service.

[3] TNQ 1917
has the construction photos. TNQ 1918 has the dedication ceremony photos.

[4] Even the
grad students.

[5] In other
words, TNQ 1915 was actually published in 1914, and so on. This created
considerable confusion for us and the MIT Libraries when we started scanning
the books. The only exceptions to this rule were Volume 1, 2, 3, and 5, which
were numbered after the publication year.

[6] Junior
Week typically consisted of a comedy production called the Tech Show, a Spring
concert, and the Junior prom.

[7] Not sure
if this marching band was actually affiliated with Technique.

[8] Then
simply known as the Great Court.

[9] The
paddle could be anything, such a wooden slab or a ball covered in oil.

[10]
Nevertheless, “a large degree of diligence upon their parts resulted each year
in a publication that brought credit to the school”.

[11] The new
recruits were called the “competitors”.

[12] Not to
be confused with the early 2010s coinage of the term. The 8 positions were
Literary Editor, Photographic Manager, Advertising Manager, Features Editor,
Publicity Manager, Treasurer, Department Editor, and Art Editor.

[13]
The triumvirate consisted of General Manager [EIC], Managing Editor, and
Business Manager. 		 	   		  
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