The book's front cover offers illustrations from the book that include Daniel Appleton White (lower right) and Robert Frost (upper left), along with three of the White Fund paintings from Reverend Wolcott's generous donation of seventeen artworks in 1907.
The book's rear cover is an overdue tribute to White Fund Trustee Judge Wilbur E. Rowell and his 1941 history of the Fund now published for the first time. The White Fund brought Booker T. Washington and Oliver Wendell Holmes to Lawrence.
“Charles S. Storrow reported the maiden voyage of the White Fundlecture series. The Essex Company treasurer and first trustee of theWhite Fund believed his successors “will esteem themselves fortunate if they are able to secure from year to year in the future lectures of as high a character as those by which the course has been so auspiciously introduced.” Rowell seemed to know that the story of Judge White and the history of his series was important but would have to wait. Throughout his forty-six-year tenure, he always made his search for “speakers of the first eminence” his highest priority. After Judge White died in 1861, the Trusteesenlisted his close friend the Rev. Dr. James Walker, Harvard’s president, to be the inaugural White Fund lecturer. That first series, staged at City Hall in 1864, also included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Storrow’s mandate—“of as high a character”—was a tall order indeed.” From the book’s pages 3-4.
Recent Article
Local longtime reporter Terry Date interviewed trustee Jay Dowd for a profile in the new issue of The Readings magazine. We learn about Jay's long tenure as a teacher and his authorship of the new book about the history of The White Fund. The article can be read here.