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June 11, 1963 ~ President Kennedy delivers his Civil Rights speech from the Oval Office. On June 11, 1963 President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech on radio and television in which he proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The address transformed civil rights from a legal issue to a…
Read More »Following is another excerpt from my book about the origin and influence of the national park in Lowell, which was written for the National Park Service in 2011-12. If the publishing process goes as planned, the book should be available in spring 2014. ‘Duey’ Kol, who speaks in this section,…
Read More »What a night for the Boston Bruins. Nobody expected a sweep of the vaunted Pittsburgh Penguins, but there you have it: two goals by the Pens in four games. Kudos to the B’s “Immense Defense.” Tuukka Rask has earned a place in goalie royal-dom (I think we should just call…
Read More »Between the UMass Lowell River Hawks skating and blasting their way into college hockey’s Frozen Four in Pittsburgh this spring and now the surging Bruins, one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three years, our region is in prime condition for a spell of…
Read More »I always try to remember major events in American history with a blog post. Today is the 69th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Below is a repeat of a post I did last year. Above and below are photos from a family visit to…
Read More »Today is the 35th anniversary of the signing of the legislation creating the Lowell National Historical Park. It was exciting and interesting to have been a part of the local efforts to make this happen. I was a member of the Board and later president of the Lowell Museum where…
Read More »Yesterday morning I was a guest on the local cable TV show, City Life, along with Marie Sweeney and Casey Crane. That will be a name familiar to anyone who lived in Lowell in the 1990s, because Casey (also known as Elenore Rinaldi) was the co-host of a morning talk…
Read More »U.S. Navy image The USS Constitution was one of the original six frigates of the United States Navy, commissioned by the Naval Act of 1794. “Old Ironsides” was the nickname given to this 18th century frigate during the War of 1812 after its naval battle with the HMS Guerriere. In 1830…
Read More »Web photo courtesy of catseye-marble.zip I was out early with Ringo the dog this morning, before 6 a.m., and the thick grass on the South Common and flawless sky over Lowell were of such pure color that I began thinking about the bright cat’s-eye glassies that I collected and played…
Read More »Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, second from right, has been a leader in challenging top officers in the military to take action to reduce the number of sexual assaults on women in the army, navy, marines, and air force. Today’s NYTimes includes an article about how women in Congress are demanding that…
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