Lowell Institute

The Lowell Institute is a United States educational foundation located in Boston, Massachusetts, providing both free public lectures, and also advanced lectures. It was endowed by a bequest of $250,000 left by John Lowell, Jr., who died in 1836. The Institute began work in the winter of 1839/40, and an inaugural lecture was given on December 31, 1839, by Edward Everett.

Bequest

Under the terms of Lowell's will, 10% of the net income from the endowment was to be added to the principal, which in 1909 was over a million dollars. None of the fund was to be invested in a building for the lectures. The trustees of the Boston Athenaeum were made visitors of the fund, but the trustee of the fund is authorized to select his own successor. In naming a successor, the Institute's trustee must always choose in preference to all others some male descendant of Lowell's grandfather, John Lowell, provided there is one who is competent to hold the office of trustee, and of the name of Lowell. The sole trustee so appointed is solely responsible for the entire selection of the lecturers and the subjects of lectures.