From 1915, their daughter, Dora Adele Shoemaker, served as principal, renaming the school "Shoemaker School of Speech and Drama" and adding coursework in journalism and radio technique.
Professor Jacob W. Shoemaker (1842–1880) studied of the principles of rhetoric and elocution, taught these extensively in institutes throughout Pennsylvania, and from 1866, labored in Philadelphia to build up a school that should embody and present these principles with full effect.
His enthusiasm and persistence gradually attracted enough pupils and assistants to enable him to carry out his plans, and in the autumn of 1873, the National School of Elocution and Oratory was established.
By September 1880, it was said that not less than 3,000 students came under its instruction, and that at least 600 lectures and readings were given before educational bodies and lyceums.
[5] Renamed the Shoemaker School of Speech and Drama,[6] its course offerings included journalism and radio technique.