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A three-year, $100,000 grant from the Lowell National Historic Park has set into motion an ambitious, historic study.
Using archival materials, hundreds of hours of oral histories, extensive interviews and participant observation, a team of researchers intends to illuminate Lowell’s global history and its contemporary cultural geography.
The Lowell National Park was founded more than 30 years ago, building on the ethnic experience of immigrant groups at that time. The exhibits and archives don’t reflect the newest waves of immigration from Southeast Asia, parts of Africa and Brazil, so an ethnographic study was proposed.
“It’s great that the researchers (who won the grant) are local folks who already know where Merrimack meets Central,” says Mehmed Ali, director of the Mogan Cultural Center, who will advise and review the project along with Park Superintendent Michael Creasey. “Although one outcome of the study will be updated park exhibits, the larger goal is to inform the park on how better to interact with the community.”
Tracking and describing current patterns of immigrant populations in Lowell is just one part of the picture the study will portray. The history of the place dates to Native Americans and the research will place Lowell’s history within the context of globalization — with the understanding that globalization is nothing new.
“We tend to have a short-sighted view of globalization,” says Asst. Prof. Christoph Strobel of the History Department, a co-principal investigator on the project. “Global forces in the past have had an impact on trade, immigration, colonization and the movement of disease. It’s a ‘current-centric’ view of the world to think globalization is only happening now.
“Lowell is a great microcosm of these forces. Immigration has always shaped the city and tensions have erupted between ‘natives’ and ‘newcomers.’ Even the very early manufacturing history around the falls reflects global influences — German glassmakers worked there, the British bought beads from Venice and sold them to Native Americans — and understanding this enriches our cultural perspective on the present, adds to our own sense of place.”
Prof. Robert Forrant of the Regional Economic and Social Development (RESD) Department is principal investigator of the study, which will fund two graduate students for two years. RESD Prof. Linda Silka is a co-PI and collaborators are drawn from the departments of Political Science and Art, the Mogan Cultural History Center, Middlesex Community College, the “One Lowell” cultural association, the Registry of Deeds and Lowell High School.
Forrant is particularly excited about working with UMass Lowell students who share an immigrant story. He will teach an undergraduate and graduate seminar in the spring on globalization and immigration.
“We are fortunate in having a rich diversity on campus,” says Forrant. “Brazilian, Portuguese, Cambodian students have contemporary stories to tell; it will be very interesting for the students to compare their experiences with the histories and recollected stories we have dating from the late 1800s.”
With so much material to work with, the team will pick four long streets in Lowell to study. Archival records, census data, material from the Registry of Deeds, the National Folklife Center and the Center for Lowell History will help in creating a series of overlay maps to show the changing populations over the long sweep of history.
Involving current students in the research is also interesting to Dr. Susan Thomson of Middlesex Community College, cultural anthropologist for the study.
“I’m personally excited because a lot of my students are from these newer immigrant groups,” says Thomson. “We also are looking to the community to be involved in an integral way with the research, to participate in discovering what is meaningful.”
Neighborhood history-writing projects and engagement of high school classes will help to round out the project over the three years. But, the hope is that National Park programs and outreach will be changed and enriched for years to come.
