The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lowell, John (merchant)

LOWELL, John, American merchant and philanthropist: b. Boston, Mass., 11 May 1799; d. Bombay, India, 4 March 1836. He was the son of F. C. Lowell (1775-1817) (q.v.). He studied at Harvard (1813-15), became a successful merchant in Boston, was several times elected to the Boston common council and the State legislature of Massachusetts and collected a large and valuable library. After 1830 he passed a large part of his time in travel in foreign lands. By the gift of about $250,000,—then the largest ever made in America by an individual for the endowment of a literary institution, with the exception of Girard's bequest for Girard College—he established in Boston the Lowell Institute, to consist of regular annual courses of free public lectures. The institute was opened in the winter of 1839-40, and has proved exceedingly successful. Consult Everett, ‘Memoir of John Lowell, Jr.’ (1840), and Smith, ‘History of the Lowell Institute’ (1898).