Mass Humanities Awards the 2022 Mass History Commendation to Lawrence History Center (June 7, 2022)

“Mass Humanities awards the 2022 Mass History Commendation to Lawrence History Center. LHC began in 1978 as a community archive of documents from immigrant women. It has received multiple grant awards from Mass Humanities for its community-based civic engagement programs. In 2012, LHC commemorated the anniversary of the Bread and Roses Strike with a Mass Humanities-funded centennial exhibit and program series, attracting over 5000 attendees. Later, their city-wide symposiums brought residents together for deep, and historically informed, conversations on complex civic issues. Two years before “public-health” would become a global watchword, their Mass Humanities-funded 2018 symposium explored the 1918 flu pandemic and “The History & Future of Public Health in Lawrence, Massachusetts and Beyond.” In 2021, with Mass Humanities grants, and in consideration of racial unrest nationally, they held a virtual symposium on the idea of public safety, looking back at Lawrence’s response to crises – be they to natural or man-made disasters, labor strikes, protests, racial discrimination, or economic upheaval. In addition to their civic programming, Lawrence History Center focuses on collecting and preserving Lawrence history, particularly oral histories of Lawrence’s diverse communities. Also in response to the pandemic, they created the bilingual “Remote Oral History: Physically Distanced. Socially Connected” program to continue their connection to the community while public spaces were shuttered. Lawrence History Center’s work makes it possible for Lawrence residents to see themselves, share their stories, and face challenges together.”