The Institute began work in the winter of 1839/40,[3] and an inaugural lecture was given on December 31, 1839, by Edward Everett.
[4] Lowell's will set up an endowment with a principal of over $1 million (in 1909[clarification needed]), stipulating 10% of its net annual income was to be added back to help it grow.
[citation needed] As of 2013[update], the Lowell Institute sponsors an annual series of free public lectures on current scientific topics, under the aegis of the Museum of Science Boston.
In the same way, a school of practical design was carried on for many years, but finally in 1903 was transferred to the Museum of Fine Arts.
For many years, advanced courses of lectures were given by professors of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 1903 these were superseded by an evening "School for Industrial Foremen"[1] sharing classroom and laboratory facilities.