of the Museum of Science Boston. In addition, the Lowell Institute sponsors the Forum Network, a public media service of the WGBH Educational Foundation which distributes free public lectures over the Internet, from a large number of program partners in and beyond Boston. Advanced lectures As to the advanced lectures, the founder seems to have had in view what is now called university extension, and in this he was far ahead of his time. In pursuance of this provision, public instruction of various kinds has been given from time to time by the institute. The first freehand drawing in Boston was taught there, but was given up when the public schools undertook it. 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. Instruction for working men was given at the Wells Memorial Institute until 1908, when the Franklin Foundation took up the work, which resulted in the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT). A Teacher's School of Science was maintained in co-operation with the Boston Society of Natural History, later renamed the Museum of Science Boston, which still continues to sponsor professional development courses for secondary school science teachers. 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courses of lectures were given by professors of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 1903 these were superseded by an evening "School for Industrial Foremen" sharing classroom and laboratory facilities. Over time, this became known as the Lowell Institute School, remaining on the MIT campus until 1996, when it was transferred to the Northeastern University Engineering School. The Lowell Institute School now is a division of the School of Professional Studies at Northeastern, offering full- and part-time programs leading to certificates, and associate's or bachelor's degrees. In 1907, under the title of "Collegiate Courses", a number of the elementary courses in Harvard University were offered free to the public under the same conditions of study and examination as in the university. This program eventually became the Harvard University Extension School, now offering hundreds of courses, and certificate and academic degree programs to residents of Greater Boston. See also Lowell Technological Institute References Further reading Charles F. Park, A History of the Lowell Institute School, 1903-1928 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931) Harriette Knight Smith, The History of the Lowell Institute (Boston: Lamson, Wolffe and Company, 1898) Edward Weeks, The