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The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

The Librarian's Guide Might Help You With Your Research

First the background, then the forms

When I first wrote about this guide, The Librarian's Guide go Genealogical Services and Research in October 2010, I knew it was something that could help genealogists with their research. Over the years, I was always aware that people were looking at this blog post. Six months ago I was able to track how many people were looking at it out because I only wrote posts about the city I live in and that made it easy to look at the Google statistics. My Lowell posts were very high in readership, but I always saw at least  20-30 hits for this post in the top 10 for each day. The total of hits since 2010 per Google is over 3,400.

I recently purchased the book from Amazon, now out of print, and I lucked out with a brand new-looking book with a CD, it came from a library. So I decided to write about this guide again because of the interest many of us have in the 1950 census (being released on April 1, 2022). So, many hours were spent last week trying to get in touch with the publisher for permission to use the forms again. I couldn't find the author anywhere, and the publisher seems to have disappeared (Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.) but I learned it is now under the wing of the ALA (American Library Association). Well, it seems I know about that organization because my great, great grandfather was an early president of it. (William Frederick Poole). So, happily I called and left messages for the research department...four times and never heard back. Again, I called the main number and got a 25-year dedicated employee who told me I should be talking to the copyright department. Yes, well I left a message and nothing.

Fast forward to five days ago when I reread my initial post. Low and behold, per that post, "I indicated I wrote to the publisher for permission to share some examples with you. He responded today (Oct. 4, 2010), and wrote this: "This is fine. Please just add a line to each:  Reprinted with permission from <book title> by James Swan.  Copyright 2004 by James Swan.  All rights reserved. Based on this, I am sharing some forms that might help you. Some were from years ago and some from photos.

My two previous posts (Oct. 1, 2010, and Oct. 4, 2010) about the book are:

http://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/2010/10/follow-friday-librarians-guide-to.html 

I explain a lot about the book, table of contents, and where you can find it (WorldCat).

https://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/2010/10/librarians-guide-to-genealogical.html

I am not doing a review of the 356-page book because it is not in print. This is his sixth book. There are few websites listed, but I imagine many have been changed. Mr. Swan's forms are valuable to us and will be for many years.

All reprinted with permission from The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Services and Research by James Swan.  Copyright 2004 by James Swan.  All rights reserved.

All reprinted with permission from The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Services and Research by James Swan.  Copyright 2004 by James Swan.  All rights reserved.

All reprinted with permission from The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Services and Research by James Swan.  Copyright 2004 by James Swan.  All rights reserved.

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All reprinted with permission from The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Services and Research by James Swan.  Copyright 2004 by James Swan.  All rights reserved.

All reprinted with permission from The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Services and Research by James Swan.  Copyright 2004 by James Swan.  All rights reserved.

All reprinted with permission from The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Services and Research by James Swan.  Copyright 2004 by James Swan.  All rights reserved.

All reprinted with permission from The Librarian's Guide to Genealogical Services and Research by James Swan.  Copyright 2004 by James Swan.  All rights reserved.

About 164 libraries in the United States have this book according to WorldCat.org.









Monday, February 21, 2022

From February 2019 the New Lowell Quarters, in 2020 a New Lowell Garage, and a New North Station in Boston.


On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, the U. S. Mint and the Lowell Historic National Park celebrated the release of a new quarter that, Honors Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts.

For more information about description and specifications, see my blog post of February 10, 2019, at this link: 
 
The quarters are silver, not gold-looking as my photo shows.

A postcard was printed, the photo is a perfect representation of our mill city.
 Postcard, front, and back.

The below February photos show road work and construction continued during the days, with no interference of ice or snow.

Straight ahead is Broadway, and across is Dutton Street. The visitor parking lot is to the right.
The signature bridge is now in place, but it took two more years before we could go over it. Soon the crane appeared.

January 30, 2020.
Look below to see how much work they did in two weeks.
The photo was taken on February 14, 2020.

There are no other photos for February and March for Lowell (just others from various day trips that I took). Because of this, I thought some people, would like to see a few pictures of the new North Station taken on February 23, 2019.  As you can see, major changes were made to North Station.



A



The outside parking lot is now covered with shops and office space.



North Station


Saturday, February 12, 2022

Merrimack Riverwalk, Lowell, MA. -- A New Walkway in the Future, Part 2. (2015, 2022)

The Concord River, between the Lowell Auditorium and other properties on the left, along with Massachusetts Mills at the far end (where the riverwalk work was being done). I went over to the auditorium for some pictures, but it was very icy further up that side, but I got some help. The bridge was not open.

The above photo was taken on April 30, 2015 (no bridge).

I thought I could walk through the Mass Mills property (shown below across Bridge Street) and get some better pictures. Doing that proved interesting as I needed help.

When I got to one of the back buildings by the Concord River, I spotted this short trail, partially hidden behind a large snowbank. When I turned around, I saw the railing and trail extended up to the new bridge across from the auditorium! Nice surprise. 

I then drove to Stackpole Street, parked, and did quite a bit of walking. Nice to see the old St. John's Hospital area, where I used to work. Walked into several private parking areas until I found what I was looking for.


The photo above was taken April 30, 2015

The photo above was taken April 24, 2016.

Then I found what I was looking for and got a few good photos. You can see where the walkway is. I wonder when it will be completed. The last picture was taken by one of the men for me, because he was 12" taller and was able to get most of the fence cut out. You can see the 6 openings on the ground level overlooking the river.