History

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…

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”…

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…

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…

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…

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…

This weekend, 160 years ago, America was in the midst of its Civil War. On July 4, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln received word of two great victories by the United States Army. The first was the better-known battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The other the more obscure, but perhaps more strategically…

Juneteenth traces its roots to June 19, 1865, when United States Army General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, a full two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln. With General Order No. 3, Granger…

Today is the 248th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Dozens of volunteer soldiers from the towns in this vicinity – Lowell didn’t receive its town charter for another 50 years – took place in the battle. The Battle of Bunker Hill is largely forgotten in our popular culture,…