Menu
Recruiting posters, 1940s. On this day – July 30, 1942 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill creating a women’s auxiliary agency in the US Navy known as Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service – WAVES. Mildred McAfee, President of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, was sworn in as…
Read More »President Lyndon Johnson signing the Medicare amendment. Former President Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess are on the far right. Truman recieved the first Medicare card. On this day July 30, 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill into law. Congress created Medicare under Title XVIII of…
Read More »We were lucky about the weather, given the unsettled skies all weekend. Twenty-six years later, the event feels more like a street festival than a music and dance festival, which is fine. The audience is determining what the experience will be. Food from around the world, sidewalk entertainers, storefront buzz,…
Read More »From the NYTimes: Meanwhile, back at the stadium, the Olympic flag was carried along the track by eight humanitarians, including Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, and Leymah Gbowee, who shared the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. Once they made a half-circuit of the stadium, they met a frail-looking Muhammad…
Read More »“Where’s the outrage” cried US Sen. Bob Dole in 1996, asking voters to repudiate President Clinton. In today’s NYT, opinion writer Charles Blow asks, What’s the matter with Democrats in this election cycle? He cites polls that suggest that Republican voters are ready to run to the voting booth while…
Read More »Photo and text from Tony Sampas: Patrick O. Murphy, the 88th mayor of Lowell meets the 2nd Mayor of Lowell, Luther Lawrence (1778-1839), in the City of Lowell Council Chamber, July 25, 2012. Luther Lawrence was mayor from 1838 to 1839. The portrait is a reproduction of an oil painting…
Read More »Congratulations to Jennifer Myers on her new position as secretary to Mayor Patrick Murphy. Knowing the responsibilities of that position, I use the word “secretary” in the “secretary of state” sense rather than the “secretarial pool” sense. Jen joins an impressive roster of folks who have previously held that position…
Read More »“Bridge Street Bridge” by Richard Marion (c) 2012 This painting is the cover image for Tom Sexton’s new book of Lowell poems, “Bridge Street at Dusk,” which is available now from www.loompress.com See more artwork at www.richardmarion.net
Read More »A repost from last July 25th: by Marie The Andrea Doria Cover of Life Magazine – August 6, 1956 MassMoments reminds us today that on July 25, 1956 the ocean liner Stockholm rammed the ocean liner Andria Doria – the fastest and largest vessel in the Italian fleet known as the…
Read More »A reprise: MassMoments reminds us that on this day – July 23, 1846 – Henry David Thoreau after walking from his Walden Pond cabin to do an errand – found himself in the Concord town jail for refusing to pay his back taxes. His was just an over-night stay –…
Read More »