Tsongas Industrial History Center

09/27/2023

Have you seen LTC's new video about the new "One City, Many Cultures" exhibit at Lowell National Historical Park? Take a peek at the video and make a plan to visit now that it is open daily from 11:30am-4:30pm. Teachers: students will have a chance to visit the new exhibit in our Yankees and Immigrants, Community Connections, and Change in the Making field trip programs. Contact us for details!

In this video, LTC visits the National Historical Park's brand new exhibit "One City, Many Cultures" and chat with staff and community planners on how the pr...

09/25/2023

Last week, the UMass Lowell James B. Francis College of Engineering hosted the American Society of Composites 38th Annual Technical Conference. On a visit to , our Tsongas Industrial History Center staff shared a brief tour to show off our locks, canals, river, and mill systems.

09/24/2023

It was a great day to celebrate a wonderful new exhibit!

09/22/2023

"I've enjoyed working alongside community members who each bring their own experiences and seeing it put together by the LNHP staff and their expert vendors into a cohesive, digestible, and interesting narrative that prompts interaction and discovery inside the unique, very Lowell-y space." - Roundtable Member Mark Van Der Hyde

It's finally happening! Tomorrow is the grand opening of the "One City, Many Cultures" exhibit. Check out our event page, https://fb.me/e/3hEczkFRM, for more details! We hope to see you there!

09/21/2023

This Saturday, September 23rd, we are so excited to be part of the "One City, Many Cultures" Opening Day at Lowell National Historical Park! Our staff will be in the 1st floor Boott Museum Gallery with hands-on activities from our various field trip programs. Come learn to weave! Come touch, play, and enjoy objects from around the world! Come talk to us about food, clothing, items of faith, or entertainment that can give us clues about cultures from different places and times. See you on Saturday!

09/21/2023

"I enjoyed the community discussions going back to 2018. I particularly appreciate how hard the LNHP worked to “herd the cats” and pull key themes out of very wide-ranging, open, and frank discussions. It’s very gratifying to see the results of this long-term, painstaking effort come to fruition in this exciting new exhibit, “One City, Many Cultures,” which better represents the diversity and complexity of Lowell." - Roundtable member Sue Kim

Only two days until the grand opening of the "One City, Many Cultures" exhibit. Check out our event page, https://fb.me/e/3hEczkFRM, for more details!

09/20/2023

"I’m grateful that the group created an exhibit where visitors can “meet” real immigrants and refugees from all over the world and better understand what they’ve gone through to come and stay in Lowell. I feel grateful to all these new Americans who have strengthened and enhanced the fabric of our community." - Roundtable member Szifra Birke

We're three days out from the "One City, Many Cultures" exhibit grand opening. Check out our event page, https://fb.me/e/3hEczkFRM, for more details!

09/18/2023

"It has been a pleasure, a challenge, and an inspiration to serve on the Community Roundtable. The respectful exchange of ideas and points of view eventually helped develop the "One City, Many Cultures" exhibit." - Roundtable Member Pauline Golec

We are only five days away from the "One City, Many Cultures" exhibit grand opening. Check out our event page, https://fb.me/e/3hEczkFRM, for more details!

09/15/2023

On Saturday, September 23rd we are going to be part of Lowell National Historical Park's "One City, Many Cultures" Grand Opening! The new exhibit is amazing! Come learn how we teach about culture and try our hands-on activities outside at Boarding House Park. We will also be inside at the 1st floor Boott Cotton Mills Museum Gallery where you can try more hands-on activities. Come see the artifacts we use in our Yankees & Immigrants and new Community Connections programs. We will also have our Bale to Bolt hand looms available so you can learn to weave! The opening ceremony is at 11am and our activities will be available from 12-4pm.

09/14/2023

Have you seen our September newsletter? It's got great information about new exhibits and funding for free field trips!

All are invited to the grand opening celebration of “One City, Many Cultures,” a new exhibit at Lowell National Historical Park!

09/13/2023

It's just 10 day until the opening celebration of the new "One City, Many Cutures" exhibit at Lowell National Historical Park! Hope you can join us all on September 23rd!

09/12/2023

This past weekend, the UMass Lowell River Hawks Hockey Team had the opportunity to visit the Boott Cotton Mills Museum Weave Room at Lowell National Historical Park. Long time Lowellian and LNHP trolley driver Seth C. took them on this special tour and explained the basics of Lowell's industrial history. We hope their families will return for visits too as they come to the city for the upcoming hockey games. We wish them and all of the UMass Lowell Athletics teams a great season! Go UMass Lowell - Go Riverhawks!

08/31/2023

Here's a great opportunity for 4th graders and their families! See below for how you can receive a pass to visit federal sites for free including Lowell National Historical Park!

(This pass described below is for individuals and not for school field trip use. We do though have some funding available for 4th grade class visits from Title 1 schools. Call us at 978-970-5080 for details and mention the "Open Outdoors for Kids Grant" for information about free field trips.)

The countdown is on! Did you know that beginning tomorrow, students entering the 4th grade this fall are eligible for a free pass to their federal lands?

Starting September 1st, 4th graders can visit www.everykidoutdoors.gov and follow the directions to receive a voucher. This printed voucher can be presented at Lowell National Historical Park and exchanged for a plastic pass. A 4th grader can present either a voucher or a pass at a federal land site to waive entrance fees for the 4th grader and three guests or for the 4th grader and occupants in a single non-commercial vehicle, depending on how fees are charged. The pass is valid from September 1, 2023, through August 31, 2024.

This pass was created to encourage younger generations and their families to get out and visit their public lands! We don't have an entrance fee at Lowell National Historical Park, but this pass can earn a 4th grader and 3 of their guests free admission to the Boott Cotton Mills Museum.

Passes are available at the Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center (246 Market Street), with free parking available at the HCID Parking Garage.

08/30/2023

Our creative staff are always trying new ideas! Here's a photo of some of our staff investigating a water run off activity as we brainstorm ideas and get inspiration for a new environmental field trip program.

08/25/2023

Here’s the fifth new interactive exhibit at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum that staff from Lowell National Historical Park and the Tsongas Industrial History Center collaborated to create. Students in the Bale to Bolt and Workers on the Line programs use these interactives during their field trip visit to the Museum.

(Check our other posts this week to see the other four new interactive exhibits.)

Keeping Up with the Machine
Factory work is often repetitive, physically demanding, and requires close attention to be done well. Visitors race against the clock to correctly place bobbins on the “spinning frame.”

08/24/2023

Good news, everyone! It's ONLY 30 DAYS until the grand opening celebration of the "One City, Many Cultures" exhibit!

Be sure to mark September 23rd in your calendars for a day of fun-filled activities and performances. With over 5-years of work and more than 100 individuals contributing their stories, objects, photographs, and other materials, we are excited to share this exhibit with everyone.

For more details about the grand opening, check out our event page: https://fb.me/e/3hEczkFRM!

08/24/2023

A fourth new interactive exhibit that staff from Lowell National Historical Park and the Tsongas Industrial History Center collaborated to create in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum relates to “solving problems.” Students in our Bale to Bolt and Workers on the Line field trip programs will have a chance to explore these new interactives.

Solving Problems
Cotton textile machines were designed and improved through experimentation and problem-solving. As loom fixers, visitors “repair” a loom by arranging a series of gears to transfer energy from the input to the output.

08/23/2023

Here’s a third new interactive exhibit that staff from Lowell National Historical Park and the Tsongas Industrial History Center collaborated to create in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum. We are excited to share these new interactives with students in our Bale to Bolt and Workers on the Line field trip programs.

Communicate and Cooperate
Learning a new job skill is always a challenge – especially in a mill where it’s noisy and everyone is busy with their own work. Visitors are challenged to work together to accomplish a task through roleplaying either a “new worker” or the “experienced peer” instructing the new worker on how to tie a weaver’s knot.

08/22/2023

Here’s a second new interactive exhibit that staff from Lowell National Historical Park and the Tsongas Industrial History Center collaborated to create in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum. Students in the Bale to Bolt and Workers on the Line programs use these interactives during their field trip visit to the Museum.

Wage Work
In the mill, a worker traded their ability and time for income – some enjoyed the limited freedom of life in a mill city while others yearned for a different life. Using an interactive touchscreen, visitors assume the role of one of three textile workers to make a series of choices that mill workers confronted in their daily life.

08/21/2023

Recently, Lowell National Historical Park and Tsongas Industrial History Center staff collaborated on the development of five new interactive exhibits for the Boott Cotton Mills Museum. The new exhibit elements offer a richer look at Lowell’s industrial history and enable visitors to engage in dialogue with each other. Students in the Bale to Bolt and Workers on the Line programs use these interactives during their field trip visit to the Museum. This week, we will be featuring details about each of the new interactive exhibits.

Here’s the first of five:
Experiences of Enslaved People
Before the Civil War, the raw cotton that fed Lowell’s mills was produced by enslaved Africans working on plantations in the American south. In a new interactive at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, visitors place their hand on the drawing of a hand to listen to first-person stories of life and work on an antebellum cotton plantation in the United States.

08/17/2023

Calling all 5th-grade and high school social studies teachers! The Massachusetts AFL-CIO State Fed and its locals generously support a scholarship fund to allow students to attend the Tsongas Industrial History Center’s Workers on the Line field trip for free. In the program, students immerse themselves in a simulated factory assembly line that experiences dramatic fluctuations in working conditions, join together to negotiate with “management” for better conditions, and use photographs and artifacts to explore past and present realities of work. The program matches up with the state’s 5th-grade and US1 History frameworks on the Industrial Revolution and provides students with insight into the origins of the US labor movement.

Call our Reservations Office – 978-970-5080 – ASAP to book your free Workers on the Line program and mention the AFL-CIO scholarship. Available on a first-come, first-served basis.

08/16/2023

Congratulations to Jessica Lander from Lowell Public Schools! We greatly admire the history work you are doing with students!

Congratulations to Lowell High School Social Studies teacher Jessica Lander for being named the Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute. This much-deserved honor is a testament to Ms. Lander's dedication to her students and for always thinking outside of the box to engage and reach her students where they are and in meaningful ways. We are very fortunate to have her. To see all of the Gilder Lehrman Institute's State History Teachers of the year, visit: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/programs-and-events/national-history-teacher-year/2023-state-winners

08/15/2023

08/10/2023

In addition to our in-person field trip programs happening here in , we will also continue to offer our popular virtual field trip programs. If you live too far away to attend an in-person trip, we recommend calling us at 978-970-5080 to book one of our virtual trips for this coming school year.

Virtual Field Trips (VFTs) provide students with an in-depth look at a topic related to the Industrial Revolution. Our professional educators facilitate virtual interactions that offer all the energy and engagement of TIHC’s in-person programs. VFTs can be conducted in a classroom (all students in...

08/09/2023

We are so excited for this new exhibit opening at Lowell National Historical Park! We are making plans for our Yankees and Immigrants, Change in the Making, and Community Connections field trip programs to visit this new space to extend learning.

Join us in 45 days, on September 23rd, for the "One City, Many Cultures" grand opening! Be among the first to experience this new interactive, community-driven exhibit and enjoy live music, performances, and activities all day! To learn more, visit our website: https://go.nps.gov/1x7953.

Stay tuned for more details about the opening festivities and captivating stories found inside this exhibit.

08/04/2023

The Lowell Folk Festival was great and now we are looking forward to the opening of the new Lowell National Historical Park exhibit, "One City, Many Cultures." Join us all for the opening day festivities on September 23rd!

08/03/2023

We are so fortunate to have great partners at UMass Lowell for our campers to visit and learn. This week's Discovery campers had a special visit to the NERVE Center at UMass Lowell to meet Spot the robotic dog!

07/28/2023

Our Boott Mills Campers had a great field trip this week to Minute Man National Historical Park and Great Brook Farm. Of course, the ice cream was yummy too!

07/25/2023

Happy Thread the Needle Day! Or, as we like to call it here at Lowell NHP, “Thread the Shuttle Day!”

The art of threading the shuttle of Lowell’s power looms was a tricky process that required the thread on a bobbin to be pulled (often sucked) through a tiny hole. This technique is known as the “Kiss of Death” because it introduced cotton fiber into the lungs and, later, was connected to the transmission of diseases like tuberculosis.

How did Lowell’s mill owners navigate the dilemma of keeping production high while protecting the health and safety of their workers? The safety shuttle! This invention replaced the tiny hole with a thin groove just large enough for a single thread that would clip into place. “An Act to prohibit the Use of Suction Shuttles in Factories” made it unlawful in Massachusetts to use anything but the safety shuttle in 1911.

07/19/2023

It's great that we can use the resources of Lowell National Historical Park in our partnership to offer unique learning experiences to UMass Lowell students. Our staff enjoyed working with the Labor Studies students to think of new ways to use the exhibits at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum. National Park Service Ranger Frank (who is also part of the UMass Lowell Alumni) did a great job helping the students understand 's labor history.

Students Collaborate with National Park Service and Tsongas Industrial History Center Image by Courtesy Photo The Introduction to Labor Studies class, taught by Elizabeth Pellerito and Pamela Whitefield. 07/13/2023 By Marlon Pitter Drawing from the city’s role in the Industrial Revolution, student...

07/18/2023

07/17/2023

Lots of new friendships were made last week during our Boott Mills Camp, including by our staff. Ranger Jamie especially enjoyed meeting a new cow at Great Brook Farm. Thanks to all who attended our Boott Mills Camp. This week, we are hosting our Eco-Explorers Camp!

07/13/2023

This week's Boott Mills Campers have been having a blast with all sorts of crafts and other activities! They even learned how to marblelize paper using two different techniques.

12/30/2022

Our Remote Learning Modules are an easy online way for students to learn. Our “Enslaved Labor and the Land" lesson explores the institution of slavery that deprived people of African descent of any legal rights, and granted an enslaver complete power over Black men, women, and children, who were legally recognized as property. Prior to 1865, enslaved people in the southern United States planted and cultivated millions of acres of cotton, which was then shipped to northern textile mills. This collection explores how enslaved people exercised their agency, the economic connections between north and south, and how people – Black and white – fought for abolition.
https://www.uml.edu/tsongas/education-programs/enslaved-labor-rlm.aspx

12/28/2022

Are you looking for online lessons for your students to use in 2023? We recommend checking out "The World of Barilla Taylor: One Mill Girl's Experience in Lowell." This interdisciplinary document set invites students to enter the world of Barilla Taylor, a young woman who left her home to work in Lowell's textile mills. Barilla was one of the thousands of young women who left family farms beginning in 1823 to work in the factories of , Massachusetts.

This interdisciplinary document set invites students to enter the world of Barilla Taylor, a young woman who left her home to work in Lowell's textile mills. Barilla was one of the thousands of young women who left family farms beginning in 1823 to work in the factories of Lowell, Massachusetts. She...

12/27/2022

Attention, grade-2 teachers! Our newest TIHC field trip program, Community Connections, is designed especially for second graders. Students explore how communities are comprised of diverse people, some of whom are immigrants. Through hands-on activities, students identify what they have in common with other children, explore how it feels to be new to a community, and consider how to help new people feel welcome. Community Connections is available from April 3 - June 16, 2023. Call us this week at 978-970-5080 to book a 2023 field trip for your class!

12/22/2022

Virtual Field Trips are still part of our schedule for 2023. If you live too far for a field trip, call us at 978-970-5080 to book your class for an interactive virtual visit.

Virtual Field Trips (VFTs) provide students with an in-depth look at a topic related to the Industrial Revolution. Our professional educators facilitate virtual interactions that offer all the energy and engagement of TIHC’s in-person programs. VFTs can be conducted in a classroom (all students in...

12/21/2022

Happy Winter Solstice and best wishes during this holiday season!

Did you spot members of the Lowell National Historical Park and Tsongas Industrial History Center team in the U.S. Department of the Interior holiday video? (Check at 01:51!)

12/21/2022

Happy Holidays to all of our friends, colleagues, and partners!

12/20/2022

Yankees & Immigrants continues to be our most popular field-trip program. This year, from now through Mar. 3, 2023, you can reserve 4 Yankees & Immigrants programs per day (instead of the usual 2).We have replicated our workshop artifacts in a whole new space to accommodate 4 groups per day! Make your reservations soon for this popular program. Call us at 978-970-5080.