The Franklin County (Massachusetts) Public Hospital ran a nurses training school from 1895 until its move in 1963, to Greenfield Community College in Greenfield, Massachusetts. In its school, it offered nurses a number of classes in basic chemistry and in medical laboratory techniques. These tinted goggles were probably used in a chemistry class, where their protection against bright lights and flying objects protected the eyes of the students. Although they would not meet modern standards for shatterproof material, they nonetheless represent a step forward: young women were learning basic science, something that would have been improbable a century before.