The Foundation Deed
The following paragraphs are taken from the amended and restated Deed of Trust of Williamson College of the Trades ( dated May 15 , 2015 ), the publication initially authored by Isaiah Williamson in 1888 that established the school .
WHEREAS , The subject of the proper training and education of youth to habits of industry and economy , and the importance of their learning trades , so that they may be able to earn their living by the labor of their hands , has for a long time received my careful attention ;
AND WHEREAS , I am convinced that the abandonment or disuse of the good old custom of apprenticeship to trades has resulted in many young men growing up in idleness , which leads to vice and crime and is fraught with great danger to society ;
AND WHEREAS , I am impressed with the belief that in many worthy institutions founded for the free education of the young , and sometimes even in the public schools , the system and course of education , and the associations and surroundings connected therewith , often unfit a young man for a life of manual labor , and induce a false belief in his mind that to labor with his hands is not respectable — and that for this reason professional and mercantile pursuits are overcrowded with incompetent candidates who meet with failure — and thus many who , if they had been differently trained in early life , could have supported themselves at some trade in comfort and decency are condemned to idleness and often to dissipation , beggary , and crime ;
AND WHEREAS , For nearly thirty years I have carefully considered this subject , with the intention at the proper time of founding and endowing a free institution , to be located in the city of Philadelphia or its vicinity , where , subject to the control of proper managers and under the direction and supervision of skillful and expert instructors , poor and deserving boys could be gratuitously instructed in the rudiments of a good English education and what is of equal , if not greater , importance , trained to habits of industry and economy and taught such mechanical trades or handicrafts as may be suited to their several capacities , so that when they arrive at manhood they may be able to support themselves decently by the labor of their own hands and become useful and respectable members of society ; as I am well convinced that in this country any able-bodied young man of industrious and economical habits who has learned a good mechanical trade can not only earn a good living and acquire an independence , but also become a useful and respected citizen ;
AND WHEREAS , The time has now arrived at which I can put my long cherished intention into effect , and devote and dedicate to the object a sufficient fund out of means which have been saved and accumulated for the purpose ;
NOW , KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS , That I , Isaiah V . Wil- 11