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“We acknowledge your valued order” (PIP #6) By Louise Peloquin Our second peek into the past, “Judging us by our work,” posted on October 3rd, quoted Louis-A. Biron’s youngest child Marthe speaking about her father’s journalistic “independence of thought.” It was protected by revenue acquired from printing services. Popping up here…
Read More »Every day a star is born (PIP #5) By Louise Peloquin “A little star dust caught”, posted on October 17th, conjures up Louis Biron’s routine. He continues… **** Lives are full of repetitive acts. The most simple, like hugging a grandchild, reading a favorite author or having breakfast, give us…
Read More »Simple John: Remembering a strange, sadly-missed friend By Malcolm Sharps [Ed. Note: Although this story from Malcolm Sharps is set in England, it has strong echoes of the Urban Renewal experience of Charlie Gargiulo as related in his recently published memoir, Legends of Little Canada, which was recently reviewed on…
Read More »PIP # 2 – “Judging us by our work” By Louise Peloquin The first Etoile peek into the past, posted on September 8th, jumped right into business nitty-gritty such as offering services, obtaining orders and paying bills. The New England Investment Company acquired L’Etoile in 1909 and went bankrupt after…
Read More »PIP #1 – “Banks & bills” By Louise Peloquin For months, the media has been covering news about inflation, utility costs, tax hikes, bank failures and credit ratings. Here is a “peek into the past” (PIP) at bygone bills and banks. ********* On August 22nd, “A Star on Prince Street”…
Read More »As is our Labor Day tradition, we’re reposting the lead editorial from the September 7, 1992 edition of The New York Times – A Labor Day piece about the then-recently opened Boott Cotton Mills Museum which is thirty years old this year. The Boott Cotton Mills Museum is open daily…
Read More »On Saturday, August 12, I attended History Camp Boston at Suffolk University Law School. It’s an annual event organized by The Pursuit of History, a national nonprofit that holds several of these in-person events each year and also weekly History Camp Discussion online interviews with noted authors. The first Boston…
Read More »Paul Hudon of Lowell is the author of Lower Merrimack, an illustrated history of our region, and All in Good Time, a collection of poems. A past contributor to this blog, he returns with a meditation on time, place, and memory. Today, he remembers growing up in East Pawtucketville and…
Read More »The efforts of the state of Florida to control the history curriculum being taught in its schools have been much in the news lately. With that in mind, it’s reasonable to ask, why does history change over time? Isn’t it just an account of what happened in the past? Historians…
Read More »The Battle of Gettysburg was fought from July 1-3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The United States Army was commanded by Major General George G. Meade. The Confederate Army was commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Before the battle, Lee tried to capitalize on the momentum…
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