The White Fund of Lawrence, Massachusetts

The White Fund of Lawrence, Massachusetts The White Fund, Inc. Dowd, Amita Kiley, and
David C. Abdoo

is a charitable trust established in 1852 by the Honorable Daniel Appleton White to benefit the citizens of Lawrence, Massachusetts

Trustees:
James P.

HAPPY 250TH BIRTHDAY, JUDGE WHITE!June 7th, less than a month before our nation's 250th anniversary of our Declaration o...
06/07/2026

HAPPY 250TH BIRTHDAY, JUDGE WHITE!

June 7th, less than a month before our nation's 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, The White Fund celebrates 250 years since the birth of our benefactor, Judge Daniel Appleton White.

Thanks to his vision, foresight, and generosity, the White Fund for nearly 175 years has benefited the people of the city of Lawrence by
promoting and fostering the ideals and objectives of Daniel Appleton White as set forth in his 1852 Indenture.

The Trustees fund a course of free annual lectures, they make grants to fulfill his stated desire to help the city's young people, and they support the Lawrence Public Library, serving as ex officio members of its Board of Trustees.

Learn more here https://thewhitefund.org/

FREE LECTURE TONIGHT - at Memorial Hall Library, Andover, MACome for a discussion with Jay Dowd and Bob Frishman to lear...
06/03/2026

FREE LECTURE TONIGHT - at Memorial Hall Library, Andover, MA

Come for a discussion with Jay Dowd and Bob Frishman to learn about The White Fund and how it is deeply rooted in the City of Lawrence's history.

Discover the little-known story of a 175-year-old foundation that supports a free annual lecture series, makes grants to help Lawrence youth, and holds an extraordinary art collection of works by Claude Monet, Camille Pissaro, and more.

The White Fund is Lawrence's oldest charitable trust. Join us to learn a bit about Lawrence's history, including the White Fund, the world famous art collection held by the White Fund in trust for the citizens of Lawrence, and significant local events...

Register here -

https://mhl.libnet.info/event/16354990

Today is the day! Thomas Averill will present his White Fund lecture “Homestead of the Free: A Report from Lawrence, Ka...
05/23/2026

Today is the day! Thomas Averill will present his White Fund lecture “Homestead of the Free: A Report from Lawrence, Kansas to Lawrence, Massachusetts” at 1:30 p.m. at Lawrence Heritage State Park, 1 Jackson St. Hope to see you there!

Photo by Peggy Clark, Washburn University

As we prepare for Saturday's lecture on the relationship between Lawrence, MA and Lawrence, KS, let's learn more from "T...
05/21/2026

As we prepare for Saturday's lecture on the relationship between Lawrence, MA and Lawrence, KS, let's learn more from "Two Lawrences" by trustee Jay Dowd ~

In response to “popular sovereignty” a prominent politician and entrepreneur from Worcester, Eli Thayer (pictured), saw profit in keeping Kansas free. His New England Emigrant Aid Company began to move “free soil” settlers to the Kansas territory. He needed money and managed to capture Amos A. Lawrence’s righteous indignation and his wealth. Lawrence became treasurer and brought a “pursuit of freedom” to the forefront of Company policy.

In 1854, the Company helped hundreds of pioneering settlers travel to the Kansas Territory. They planted the free state flag at a place they called Lawrence for the financier who made their westward trip possible.

The pro-slavery forces in neighboring Missouri did not make life in Lawrence comfortable or the free state cause easy to advance. Violence erupted in 1856 that resulted in the “Sack Of Lawrence" (pictured). Lives this time were spared; however, the city burned. Not so in the 1863 event known as “the Lawrence Massacre” when nearly 160 died in what is known there as “Quantrill’s Raid”. That period, called “Bleeding Kansas,” is viewed today as a clear prelude to our Civil War.

So, was there anything in that family named Lawrence? Most definitely! Two cities now, whether by accident or design, claim a place in American history as home to immigrants and pioneers, strikers and battlers, seekers of a better life.

Also pictured is Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, KS.

Full "Two Lawrences" article available here - https://queencityma.wordpress.com/2021/02/04/two-lawrences/

05/21/2026

LAWRENCE — A Kansas writer is coming to the Immigrant City with a story to tell about its namesake to the west – Lawrence, Kansas – and the ties that

As we prepare for Saturday's lecture on the relationship between Lawrence, MA and Lawrence, KS, let's learn more about t...
05/19/2026

As we prepare for Saturday's lecture on the relationship between Lawrence, MA and Lawrence, KS, let's learn more about the way Abbott Lawrence and his nephew Amos Adams Lawrence viewed the world. From "Two Lawrences" by trustee Jay Dowd ~

In the 1850’s, the country was experiencing rapid growth. The industrialists of the North and the planters of the South had quite a different view of the future. Could there be a peaceful resolution to the burning question of slavery as America doubled in size?

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 stipulated Missouri enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as free with lines drawn at 36’30” stopping slavery’s expansion in the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase. The South, whose burgeoning economy was based on size and scale, needed land and slave labor to sustain its growth.

But, from the North, Harriet Beecher Stowe called slavery “a national sin.” Another famous detractor, Henry David Thoreau, went to jail for a night for refusing to pay his poll tax because those dollars would support the Mexican War and likely lead to the creation of new slave states. He wrote “On Civil Disobedience” in 1848, the year Irish immigrants dug our canals. The South’s solution to the growing controversy over John Calhoun’s “peculiar institution” was secession. Could the Union hold?

Amos Adams Lawrence, though, was about to face a moment of truth. It came in the passage of the Douglas Bill in 1854. This decision repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820’s limitation on the spread of slavery above the 36’30” parallel and applied the “popular sovereignty” of the Mexican Cession to all future applications for statehood. Both reopened the possibility of expanding slavery westward.

The bill, more commonly known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, empowered settlers to vote slave or free as a territory moved for inclusion. With the Lawrence family holding firm to its belief in the preservation of the Union, their efforts remained on appeasing the southern planters. Amos A. Lawrence, however, “woke up a stark mad Abolitionist.” His reaction was clearly visceral when a former slave, Anthony Burns, was arrested in Boston in the spring of 1854 and returned to his “rightful” owner. A humanitarian Lawrence emerged...
(https://queencityma.wordpress.com/2021/02/04/two-lawrences/)

Kansas graphic from the American Antiquarian Society.

Today the YWCA honored Trustee Amita Kiley as a Community Changemaker at their 43rd Annual Tribute to Women. Congratula...
05/14/2026

Today the YWCA honored Trustee Amita Kiley as a Community Changemaker at their 43rd Annual Tribute to Women. Congratulations Amita.

"Two Lawrences" by White Fund trustee Jay Dowd~Lawrence, Massachusetts and Lawrence, Kansas. So tell us exactly, what i...
05/12/2026

"Two Lawrences" by White Fund trustee Jay Dowd~

Lawrence, Massachusetts and Lawrence, Kansas. So tell us exactly, what is there in a name? Anything? In the case of these two cities there is much, indeed.

Of their relative merits, both are significant in American history. Lawrence, MA is the “Immigrant City,” home to waves of newcomers seeking a better life, and site of labor’s biggest battle, the Strike of 1912. Lawrence, KS is our American “Home on the Range,” sacked and burned in the penultimate fight to save slavery.

Both call themselves a river city: for us, “Queen City of the Merrimack”, and for them, “The River City” at a majestic bend on the Kansas.

Our Lawrence is surrounded by mountains of mills and relics of the Industrial Revolution; theirs by prairie lands and remnants of steam locomotives headed west.

Despite some obvious differences in appearance and geography, Lawrence, MA and Lawrence, KS share the same founding family. Abbott Lawrence, whose Essex Company built the Great Stone Dam, got his name on the welcome sign of his model city in 1853. His nephew, Amos Adams Lawrence, whose New England Emigrant Aid Company sent free-soil advocates west, got his name attached to their foremost encampment in 1854...(https://queencityma.wordpress.com/2021/02/04/two-lawrences/)

Learn about this history at the upcoming free lecture on Saturday May 23, 1:30pm, at Lawrence Heritage State Park, 1 Jackson Street:, “Homestead of the Free: A Report from Lawrence, KS, to Lawrence, MA by Kansas historian Tom Averill.

Amos Adams Lawrence photo credit - Kansas Historical Society

The White Fund of Lawrence, Massachusetts is delighted to welcome Kansas historian Tom Averill for our next lecture on S...
05/04/2026

The White Fund of Lawrence, Massachusetts is delighted to welcome Kansas historian Tom Averill for our next lecture on Saturday, May 23, 2026 at 1:30pm at Lawrence Heritage State Park Visitors Center, 3rd Fl., 1 Jackson St., Lawrence, MA. All of The White Fund lectures are FREE and OPEN to the public.

Mr. Averill will discuss the important historical connections between Lawrence, MA and Lawrence, KS, including the role the Lawrence family played in the creation of the two Lawrences, and the historical context for which the two cities were founded. This is not to be missed!

Leading up to this lecture, we will post more information about the shared history of the two cities. We hope to see you on the 23rd!

Check out https://thewhitefund.org/ for more information!

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Lawrence, MA
Lawrence, MA

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