Summary
Contains the records of the Lowell Institute, particularly its lecture series, management, and other courses. Includes correspondence organized alphabetically; ledger books; tickets for lectures and publicity materials, trustees' documentation; class rosters; and other materials. Additionally contains papers relating to John Lowell Jr., including travel books, correspondence, and other items, mainly relating to his work at the Lowell Institute.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1837-1943
Language of Materials
English
Restrictions on Access
Collection is open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite. Retrieval requires advance notice. Check with Houghton Public Services staff.
Extent
28 linear feet (45 boxes)Biographical / Historical
The Lowell Institute, established in 1836, is an educational foundation in Boston, Massachusetts, providing for free public lectures; it was endowed by the bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell, Jr. (1799-1836). Under the terms of his will, 10% of the net income was to be added to the principal, which in 1909 was over a million dollars. The first trustee was Lowell's cousin, John Amory Lowell, who administered the trust for more than forty years, and was succeeded in 1881 by his son, Augustus Lowell, who in turn was succeeded in 1900 by his son Abbott Lawrence Lowell, who in 1909 became president of Harvard University. [Source: Wikipedia, 2013]
Arrangement
Collection has been arranged into three series: I. John Lowell, Jr. papers; II. Correspondence; and III. Records.
Ownership and Custodial History
Deposited by the Lowell Institute, 1955.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
54M-206. Deposit of the Lowell Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1955 April.
Processing Information
Minimal description derived from existing records and converted to online finding aid, Betts Coup, 2020. Additionally processing by Betts Coup, 2023.
- Title
- Lowell Institute. Lowell Institute records, circa 1837-1943 (54M-206): Guide
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2018 November 16
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou04821
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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