Azores Genealogy – 6 Easy Steps to Extend Your Family Tree Back to the 1600s
Maybe you’ve always known that your ancestors came from the Azores. Maybe you’ve just found out. Here are 6 Steps to Get Your Family Tree Back to the 1600s.
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Old Group Photos: Someone Else’s Ancestors
Maybe you love to stare into the faces of those captured in long-ago photographs and search for a lost image of a long-dead ancestor. Maybe you just like old photos. In our family, we’ve had an old group photograph from 1924 for … well, since it was taken in 1924. The story behind the photograph […]
Read MoreHenry David Thoreau, at 200: A Genius Old Sixpence whose Influence still Resonates Today
Whether you’re looking for inspiration for fighting an unjust government, evidence for climate change, or a role model for living a more deliberate life, all those roads can lead to Henry David Thoreau, born 200 years ago on July 12. Born in Concord, Thoreau had Merrimack Valley ties, living several years in Chelmsford as a […]
Read More3 Quick Tips to Unlock the Secrets of an Old Lowell Photo
Photographs capture a moment in time, a moment that begins evaporating just as soon as the shutter releases. Be it seconds, minutes, years, or decades later, that photograph cannot be recreated, because the moment is gone, replaced with the next, which itself disappears into another.
Read MoreLike Lazarus, the Rialto Rises from the Verge of Oblivion
How you know Lowell’s Rialto Building is largely determined by when you grew up. To the oldest among us, the Victorian-era building that has dominated Towers Corner for 140 years is the Rialto Theatre – famous for first trips to the movies, to movies that have long since become classics.
Read MoreMerrimack Valley Magazine Feature! A Peek into Lowell’s Past
An article by Lowell Historical Society Curator Ryan W. Owen appears in the May/June 2016 issue of Merrimack Valley Magazine, which hits Greater Lowell newsstands soon. Lowell has lots to see, and do! Some of Lowell’s best history-related points of attraction are featured in the article, A Peek into Lowell’s Past. The list includes the downtown […]
Read MoreHiking with a Dose of History: Chelmsford’s Thanksgiving Forest
With spring finally here, if you are looking for
family-friendly (and dog-friendly) hiking trails in the Merrimack Valley, don’t overlook Chelmsford’s Thanksgiving Forest, sometimes also known as the Thanksgiving Ground Forest.
From the Curator’s Desk: Old Timepieces – The Pocketwatch
At the Lowell Historical Society, we run across some interesting items in our collection of historical artifacts. Recently, we came across this pocketwatch, dated 1900, with its old-timey reference tag still attached.
Read MoreAmong the Artifacts: Merrimack Mills Employee Badges from Long Ago
At the Lowell Historical Society, we get to see and study some really interesting artifacts, like the wooden stake from the Central Bridge fire of 1882 or the Hi Hat Guy from Lowell’s Hi-Hat Rollaway, or even the Box of Cinders from the Pollard’s Department Store fire of 1926. A lot of these, we inherited from long […]
Read MoreFrom the Curator’s Desk: Odd Old Things – The Box of Cinders
At the Lowell Historical Society, we sometimes get the question: “Hey, what’s the strangest thing you have in your collection?” That’s a tough question to answer. The Lowell Historical Society has been around for a long time. I’m reminded of this each time I visit our archive. Just this morning, I found a book, one […]
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Forgotten New England 