Thanks to Tony Sampas for the following photos and text and congratulations to Mehmed Ali:

Lowell’s own Mehmed Ali receives Historic New England’s 2014 Prize for Collecting Works on Paper

June 2, 2014, Haverhill, MA. With many Lowell friends in attendance the President of Historic New England Carl R. Nold (right) presented Mehmed Ali, Ph.D with the fifth annual Prize for Collecting Works on Paper. From Historic New England’s website: “Dr. Mehmed Ali is devoted to preserving the history of Lowell, Massachusetts. He has collected material documenting the city’s diverse communities, including Puerto Rican, African-American, Lithuanian, Lao, Cambodian, French-Canadian, Italian, Syrian-Lebanese, and LGBT, and ensured access to these collections at the Center for Lowell History at the University of Massachusetts/Lowell and the Lowell Historical Society. This is the fifth annual Prize for Collecting Works on Paper, which was established by Historic New England to be awarded to a collector or dealer who has assembled or helped save a significant collection of historical material related to New England or the broader world that might otherwise have been left unrecognized or lost. The award recognizes collections of works on paper that reveal patterns of human thought and activity, ranging from books, manuscripts, photographs, prints, and drawings to all kinds of ephemera, such as trade cards, scrapbooks, or theater programs.” Mehmed was a co-recipient of the award with Dr. Jay T. Last of Beverly Hills, California who has collected American ephemera since the 1970s.