Monday, September 22, 2008 over 30 students and faculty members, Leon Trilling and Wesley Harris, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge came to the Lawrence History Center.
Arriving at 9:00am the guests met with LHC Board President Pamela Yameen, Director Barbara Brown and Matt Russell. 
Brown gave them an overview of the history of Lawrence and information about the extensive collections housed at the History Center. The guests then toured the facility, viewing the collections, Essex Company documents; touring the walk-in vaults and the additional buildings in the historic courtyard. Interests ranged from engineering; public housing issues; public health and architecture. Many questions were posed but the recurring one was when would we be digitizing this extraordinary collection!
After viewing the site, we boarded a trolley to see the City first hand. When we arrived at the Great Stone Dam, an engineer working for Enel Corporation met us to describe the new engineering technology presently being installed at the dam.
Upon returning to the History Center after an hour on the trolley, the students and faculty then met at the Center with City employees, Milagro Grullon and Ellen Minzner member of LHC Board and City Community Planning Department.
During the many conversations that took place, we also realized that MIT works with 8th grade students at the Lawrence Family Development Charter School - coming to the school the school to teach science and the the students go to Cambridge on alternative weeks.
This is the same school that the LHC has partnered with for the History Is What You Are Doing Now Summer Camp. For summer 2008, the cooperative project is to develop a tour guide of the City for the students to use - highlighting not only the current sites in Lawrence but putting them into the historical context of on an Industrial Revolution city. Students will acquire a greater understanding and respect of their City of Lawrence as well as incorporate public speaking skills and presentations. This idea came from discussions of such a project between Holly Jo Sparks of MIT, Barbara Brown of the History Center and Susan O'Neill of the Charter School based on a similar project called Our Town previously done in Dorchester and Roxbury.
Here at the History Center we are pleased that our nationally significant collection has been viewed by MIT and we anticipate further research, collaboration and input as we go forward. LHC is especially grateful to MIT community members Holly Jo Sparks; Rebecca Madson, Jeffrey Beam, and especially Lorlene Hoyt, who first proposed such a meeting to Barbara Brown in June.
I would also like to also acknowledge LHC Board Member Chet Sidellwho has been promoting just a such a collaboration and Matt Russell,an MIT alum, for supporting our efforts.
