Workers at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium recently discovered a large, ornate wooden frame which enclosed a faded and tattered flag from the American Civil War. The Auditorium workers quickly contacted the Greater Lowell Veterans Council which sprung into action and is already planning for the refurbishment and eventual public display…
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A framed and tattered flag from the Civil War was recently unearthed at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium. The elaborate frame notes this citation: “Under this flag at Clinton, L. A. (?) June 3rd, 1863 Solon A. Perkins was killed” History sleuths are at work getting all the information on the…
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Jean LeBlanc is an Assistant Professor of English and Developmental Studies at Sussex County Community College in northwestern New Jersey. She was raised in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and still identifies as a New Englander with pride (especially, as she writes, “being so close to various New York sports teams that shall…
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An excerpt from Cotton Was King in a chapter written by historian Mary H. Blewett, longtime professor at now-UMass Lowell: ” . . . The movement for the adoption of Plan E [city manager-council government] was headed by Harvard-educated Yankee lawyer Woodbury F. Howard. City government under Plan E would…
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Our far-flung Western net-desk night editor Tom Sexton, once the Poet Laureate of Alaska and always a distinguished alumnus of Lowell High School, sent this new poem inspired by a work of art he bought from Bill Giavis, a legend at the Brush Gallery in Market Mills downtown.—PM .…
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Jim Blute of the Facebook group “You Know You’re From Lowell If…” posted a link to ebay.com for this 1854 letter on Jan. 5, 2014: “In the 19th Century, Lowell, Mass., was known for its textile industry and for ‘mill girls,’ New England women who worked in the mills. It’s…
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In his recent inaugural speech Boston’s new mayor Marty Walsh referred to John Winthrop’s “city on a hill” quote but expanding it to encompass Bunker Hill, Mission Hill and all the hills of Boston. Over 50 years ago John F. Kennedy used the same image in a speech of farewell and…
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This poem, from Tom Sexton’s recent book Bridge Street at Dusk (Loom Press, 2012), connects to the “Moody Gardens” post below.—PM . Manny He was a minor god of the underworld whose euphonious name brought no reply if mentioned during the day, a lounge singer, a god of sirens and…
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These early days of January 2014 are days of mayoral inaugurations. Yesterday – after winning a squeaker over the former controversial mayor – it was Dan Rivera in Lawrence and there’s the upcoming swearing-in of Marty Walsh – the first new mayor of Boston in twenty years. Monday will see a new…
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