William H. (William Henry) Dooley

William H. Dooley, also listed as William Henry Dooley and born in 1880, was an American writer of vocational and industrial-arts textbooks. His work focused on explaining skilled trades in a clear, useful way for students and workers entering factory and workshop settings.

In the preface to A Manual of Shoemaking and Leather and Rubber Products (1912), Dooley says he was asked in 1908 by the Lynn Commission on Industrial Education to investigate European shoe schools and help prepare a course of study for a proposed shoe school in Lynn. The same book identifies him as principal of the Lowell Industrial School, which helps place him within the growing movement for practical industrial education in the United States.

His published works include A Manual of Shoemaking and Leather and Rubber Products and Applied Science for Metal Workers (1919). Across these books, he comes across as a teacher-writer interested in turning specialized trade knowledge into accessible instruction.