Blackstone Career Institute

The Blackstone Career Institute, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and founded in 1890, offers distance education programs and home study programs, specializing in courses students can use to study at home and/or take online to advance their careers. Training includes courses that prepare a student for a career as a Paralegal/Legal Assistant, Pharmacy Technician, Medical Transcription, Medical Billing and Coding, Medical Office Assistant, Dental Office Assistant, Physical Therapy Aide, Veterinary Assistant and Child Care Provider.

If you search back issues of the World Book Encyclopedia, you will find Blackstone listed as one of the oldest correspondence schools in the nation.

It all began in 1890. At the turn of the century, students with a desire to study law were confronted with many difficulties. Most textbooks were written in a technical style which was difficult to understand and cluttered with Latin words and phrases. The texts dealt primarily with practice and procedure, while the branches of the law that pertain to business transactions, such as private corporations and partnerships, were not readily accessible for student use.

Around 1912, a group of prominent educators identified with the Chicago-based Blackstone Institute decided to prepare an up-to-date commentary dealing with the modern rules of law and their origin, nature, and growth.

Eugene A. Gilmore, at the time Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin and a member of the Educational Committee of the American Bar Association, was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the new series. His high standing in the field of legal education, as well as his acquaintance with university professors, lawyers, and judges, enabled him to attract the best legal talent in the country for this project.

The entire field of law was divided into sixty branches. The best authors for each subject were selected, and the decision was made to leave out as many of the Latin phrases, unnecessary technical matter, and useless citations as possible.

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