Author Archive

Boarding School Blues: Chapter 17

Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Ch. 17: On the Agenda In the run-up to Thanksgiving, testing set the beat as teachers were bent on evaluating performance. Students seemed to resist the temptation to daydream in study hall and even Andy filled her Oxford copybooks with school notes rather than…

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Lowell People: Dr. Gilman Kimball

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2021 edition of The Epitaph, the quarterly newsletter of Lowell Cemetery. Dr. Gilman Kimball (1804-1892) During the second half of the nineteenth century, Lowell became the center of the lucrative patent medicine business. Three of the primary purveyors – James C. Ayer, Charles…

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Lake Champlain and American History

Last week a friend emailed that he was taking a quick vacation trip to the shore of Lake Champlain. While the lake is a delightful destination relatively close to Lowell, I know it best as one of the most important places in American history, especially American military history. Noted British…

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LaLa Books Comes to Lowell

Congratulations to LaLa Books which had its grand opening last Friday (July 23) at 189 Market Street (next to Warp & Weft). I visited on Saturday and was impressed with what I saw. It’s spacious and well laid-out and from its appropriately-sized inventory of books on the shelf, I found…

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A World Underground

A World Underground: Summer Rains Set Off a Merrimack Valley Mushroom Explosion By Doug Sparks This has been and will likely continue to be an exceptional year for Merrimack Valley mushroom hunters because of the unusual volume of rain. Unfortunately, it’s also a great year if you happen to be…

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Massachusetts Tercentary Markers

In 1930, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts observed its 300th anniversary, its tercentenary. To help commemorate the occasion, historical markers were erected around the state to mark important events in our history. The text of the markers was composed by Samuel Eliot Morison, Professor of History at Harvard University. The Secretary…

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Langston Now

Langston Now By David Daniel He was the original marijuana maven. Gastronome of ganja, raja of reefer, sultan of spleefs, hipster of hemp . . . the sobriquets pile up. Skoobie doobie, Puff buff. Not that anyone called him by anything other than his name. Langston. No tie-dyed hippie, he…

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Boarding School Blues: Chapter 16

Boarding School Blues By Louise Peloquin Ch. 16: Parlez-vous? The rooftop escapade created a special bond between Titi and Blanche. Their comings and goings had gone undetected but Titi often made conspicuous references to a cigarette shared in the middle of the night. With a pencil between her fingers, she…

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The Wheelwright Deed

One of the oldest documents in the records of the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds was created in 1629. It’s a deed from a number of the various native American tribes in the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire to John Wheelwright and several other residents “of the Massachusetts Bay…

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1945 City Council Election

Councilors elected in 1943 – these were the incumbents seeking reelection in 1945: Joseph J. Sweeney Woodbury F. Howard Leo A. Roy J. Russell Scott Walter E. Clement William C. Geary Maurice D. Condrey Bart J. Callery Jr. Harold W. Hartwell 1945 Campaign and Election November 7, 1945 – Wednesday…

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