The Cambodian Neighborhood Walking Tour brochure is part of the New England Folk Life Center Collection at the Center for Lowell History. It was a joint project of the NEFLC, Middlesex Community College, and the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission.
"This tour of Cambodian neighborhoods in Lowell introduces first time visitors to Lowell and native Lowellians alike to the cultural riches of the city's largest immigrant group. Most of Lowell's Cambodians came to the United States in the early 1980s as refugees, victims of the brutal Phol Pot regime. Many came to America from rural provinces where they practiced farming. Suffering from the dislocation of war, Cambodians in Lowell have also had to negotiate a relatively harsh climate and an unfamiliar urban environment. In going to popular Cambodian commercial establishments, such as restaurants, markets, and video stores, as well as parks and places of worship, visitors will witness how Lowell's most recent immigrants have made this historic city their own. Cambodian newcomers to Lowell participate in the city's immigrant tradition of adapting old sites to new needs and building new structures to fill traditional requirements. This tour, the product of collaboration between Cambodian community leaders, Middlesex Community College faculty and staff, Lowell National Historical Park interpreters, and other representatives from Lowell's educational, religious, and cultural agencies, is an experiment in cross-cultural and inter-institutional sharing. We hope, inasmuch as it is possible, that this tour illustrates the way Cambodian Lowellians choose to represent their neighborhoods."
