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When studying history, some years seem more interesting than others. As comedian Robin Williams famously said, “If you remember the 1970s, you weren’t there.” One year deserving of additional scrutiny may be 1912. Just in the month of April you had the sinking of the Titanic and the opening of…
Read More »For more than a century, historians have used 618,000 as the approximate number of men who died in the American Civil War. That number, it turns out, may have significantly underestimated the number of casualties. As reported in the Science section of last Tuesday’s New York Times, a demographic historian…
Read More »Academy of Notre Dame, Tyngsboro ~ Class of 1960 Today April 8 is the Feast Day of St. Julie Billiart – a French religious leader who founded and served as the first Superior General of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. During my years at the Academy…
Read More »Dudley L. Page (Courtesy: Lowell Sun – 8/11/1934) from “Forgotten New England” Don’t miss the latest entry in the “Forgotten New England” diary of things past in New England – but more importantly with today’s post – in our Lowell Massachusetts. The remembrance of Dudley Page evokes memories and stories of a post-Civil…
Read More »John Prendergast meeting in South Sudan during the Southern Sudanese independence referendum, 2011 with President Jimmy Carter, 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and George Clooney (web photo courtesy of wikipedia.com) John Prendergast of the Enough Project is the 2012 UMass Lowell Greeley Scholar for Peace Studies. He has two…
Read More »In this week’s Local History article on the Howl in Lowell website, I write about the Three-Fifths Compromise in the US Constitution, the section of that document that tacitly acknowledged the existence of slavery without ever mentioning that word. While standing firm in opposition to slavery in 1787 may have…
Read More »Seen here in Jezebel (1938), Davis’s second Academy Award-winning performance On this day April 5, 1908 – Ruth Elizabeth Davis, known from early childhood as “Betty”, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, the daughter of Ruth Augusta “Ruthie” (née Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney. The family was Protestant, of English,…
Read More »The historically minded among you might want to mark a couple of upcoming events on your calendars. On Sunday, April 15, 2012 at 2 pm at the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center at 40 French Street in Lowell, I will give a talk on Lowell and the coming of the…
Read More »Many are familiar with the Bread and Roses Strike which took place in Lawrence and which celebrates its centennial this year. What is not so well known is that the Lawrence action led to other strikes, one of which occurred in Lowell that same year. Next Tuesday, April 10, 2012…
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