Hello, Muddah: In a Parents' Weekend address titled "Dear Mother and Father: Stanford Students Write Home," Stanford archivist Maggie Kimball shared one early student's observations of Palo Alto. "Real estate would be a good investment," wrote Francis Batchelder in 1891. "Lots are cheap." Kimball's lecture was one of 28 back-to-school classes--on topics ranging from 20th-century Irish literature to the physics of nanostructures--that parents could attend during the February 23-24 weekend. "Keep those letters and e-mails from your students," Kimball, '80, admonished her audience. "They may come in handy for future researchers."
