Many Malden residents from the past became good friends, while supporting a cause, working together towards a common goal or transacting business,. Their life stories reveal their mutual respect and affection and is important to the development our city. Philanthropist Elisha S. Converse, artist Ernest Ipsen, abolitionist Harriet Robinson and socially prominent Alice May Davenport and others heavily relied on their trusted connections. Even in our own time, friendship still builds community. Dee Morris is a scholar and educational consultant specializing in the nineteenth-century history of Greater Boston. She is the author of A Brief History of Somerville, Medford: A Brief History and Boston in the Golden Age of Spiritualism: Séances, Mediums & Immortality. Her goal is help us all connect to our civic ancestors. Sponsored by the Friends of the Malden Public Library and the Robinson Lecture Fund.