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Susan Grabski, M.Ed., Executive Director director@lawrencehistory.org Susan has been Executive Director of the Lawrence History Center (LHC, founded as the Immigrant City Archives in 1978), since 2011. During her tenure, she has helped LHC create a more sustainable and effective organization on both a programmatic and financial level. In concert with the organization’s development team, she works to secure operating and capital funding revenue. Susan acts as lead for educational programming, including academic symposiums and summer workshops. She has co-chaired planning committees for community symposiums on topics of local, regional, and national significance and relevance to present day Lawrence community members. Topics have included the 1912 Bread & Roses Strike (2012), Post-WWII Immigration (2014), Urban Renewal (2016), Public Health (2018), Public Safety (2021), and Education (2024, in progress). Each have featured nationally known keynote speakers and attracted presenters and audience members from twenty-eight states and three foreign countries. Susan earned her undergraduate degree in Art History and English from UMass Lowell in 1992 and later earned her M.Ed. from the American International College in Springfield, MA. She serves as a member of the Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board, a Commissioner for the Essex National Heritage Area, and as Treasurer of the Board of the Friends of the Lawrence Heritage State Park. In 2023, she co-edited Covid Conversations: Voices from Lawrence & Lowell, Massachusetts, published by Loom Press. In June 2022, she co-authored a chapter entitled, “Lawrence, Massachusetts and the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike at Street Level: Interpretation Over Time” in the University of Illinois Press publication, Where Are the Workers? Labor’s Stories at Museums and Historic Sites, a part of the Working Class in American History series. In 2013, she co-authored Lawrence, Massachusetts and the 1912 Bread & Roses Strike, with UMass Lowell Professor Robert Forrant, Arcadia Publishing, Images of America series. |
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Amita Kiley, Collections Manager & Research Coordinator amita@lawrencehistory.org Amita was raised in Lawrence, MA and graduated from Northeastern University with a B.A. in American History in 2004. Her experience growing up in Lawrence fostered a love of the city and a strong sense of wanting to preserve its history. In 2001, as part of Northeastern’s Co-operative Education program, she found herself working at the LHC as a preservation assistant. She continued her professional career after graduation at the archive. In 2015, she moved into her current role as collections manager and research coordinator. She works closely with LHC’s director and local historians, coordinates and supervises volunteers, handles walk in visitors and school groups, and ensures that the hundreds of research requests LHC receives a year are answered in a timely and thorough manner. Amita is a member of the Organization of American Historians, Mass History Alliance, Society of American Archivists, and New England Archivists. She is a Trustee of the White Fund and serves on the Strikers’ Monument Committee of Lawrence, MA. She co-edited the book Covid Conversations: Voices from Lawrence & Lowell, Massachusetts in 2023. Amita is a frequent speaker on all things Lawrence History Center and enjoys introducing others to their mission of collecting, preserving, sharing, and animating the history and heritage of Lawrence and its people. |
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[Volunteer] Kathy Flynn, Head Researcher kathy@lawrencehistory.org Kathy was an early supporter of the Immigrant City Archives (now the LHC) during the 1980s and 1990s, volunteering and serving in several board capacities, including president. A graduate of Regis College, she received advanced degrees from Northeastern University in counseling and Fitchburg State College in educational administration. Kathy was a founding member of the Bridge Over Troubled Waters Program in Boston, MA. After 33 years of service she retired as an administrator from Whittier Regional Vocational Tech High School in Haverhill, MA. Currently she supports LHC as a volunteer and researcher. Kathy authored A Sacred Space, a history of St. Mary and Immaculate Conception Cemeteries in 2010; a history of the Catherine McCarthy Family and development of the Memorial Trust Fund entitled The Catherine McCarthy Memorial Trust Fund, in 2019; and co-authored a chapter entitled, "Lawrence, Massachusetts and the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike at Street Level: Interpretation Over Time" in the University of Illinois Press publication, "Where Are the Workers? Labor's Stories at Museums and Historic Sites", a part of the Working Class in American History series in June 2022. Kathy is a board member and annual walker for the Just'Cause 60-mile Walk for Breast Cancer. |
| [Contract] Joseph Carreiro, Bookkeeper |