Lowell History Resources and Bibliographies

Irish immigrants much of the physical work of building the city of Lowell as we know it today. The first Irish immigrants arrived in Lowell in the 1820’s. In the early days, they were primarily employed as physical laborers, digging and maintaining the transportation canals as well as the power canals needed for the mills. 

Because they were not provided housing by the mill owners, something that most regional workers were afforded, the earliest Irish lived in camps in the area of Lowell now known as the Acre, largely segregated from the rest of the city. The expectation from the mill owners had been that the laborers would do the work needed and then leave. However, whole families soon joined the men, and a community began to grow from the “Paddy Camps.”   

With the Irish Potato famine in the 1840s, the numbers of Irish in Lowell grew exponentially as those fleeing the famine joined the existing Irish community. The Irish who settled in the Acre faced prejudice like that which affected Irish immigrants throughout the nation. Racist stories and editorials appeared in local papers, and there was occasional racially motivated violence as the Irish community grew.   

Since the early days of Lowell the Irish community has grown in power and influence. Irish politicians dominated City Hall from the late 19th century and well into the 20th, as Lowell gradually became home to many more immigrant populations, making it the diverse community we know today.

1. American Irish Historical Society, LF.A5126. Morse Collection, Lowell Historical Society. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
2. Blanchette, Joseph P. The View from Shanty Pond : An Irish Immigrant's Look at Life in a New England Mill Town, 1875-1938. Charlotte, Vt.: Shanty Pond Press, 1999.
3. Catholics in Lowell, LF.C2867. Lowell Files Collection, Vertical Files. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
4. Churches - Saint Patrick's, L.C4800. Lowell Files Collection. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
5. Dubnoff, Steven Jan. “The Family and Absence from Work: Irish Workers in a Lowell, Massachusetts Cotton Mill, 1860.” Dissertation, Brandeis University, 1976.
6. Irish Benevolent Society, LF.I7006. Lowell Files Collection, Vertical Files. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
7. Irish. Box 9, CLH Research Files, Martha Mayo Research. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
8. Irish in Lowell, L.I7008. Lowell Files Collection. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
9. Irish, LF.I7001. Lowell Files Collection, Vertical Files. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
10. Irish Paddy Camp Lands [map]. LF.I7008. Lowell Files Collection, Lowell Flat Files.  Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
11. Irish Times [microfilm]. Microfilm Collection. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.  
12. McKean, David Duncan, and St. Patrick Church (Lowell, Mass.). From Erin to the Acre : A Photo History of Lowell's Early Irish. Lowell, MA: Irish Cultural Committee, 1998.
13. McKean, David, and Richard P. Howe Jr., eds. Lowell Irish: 200 Years of the Irish in Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell, MA: self-published, 2022.
14. McKean, David. From Erin to the Acre. Lowell, MA: Lowell Historic Preservation Commission, 1994. Exhibits Collection and Internet Archive 
15. Mitchell, Albert Gibbs. “Irish Family Patterns in Nineteenth-Century Ireland and Lowell, Massachusetts.” PhD. dissertation, Boston University, 1976.
16. Mitchell, Brian Christopher. “Immigrants in Utopia: The Early Irish Community of Lowell, Massachusetts, 1821-1861.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Rochester, 1980.
17. O'Dwyer, George Francis. The Irish Catholic Genesis of Lowell. Lowell Museum Corp, 1981.
18. Panas, Leo, and Anne Quinn. The Irish Came to Lowell: Journalists' Observations of 19th Century Irish in Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell, Mass.: Lowell Historic Preservation Commission, Dept. of the Interior, 1985.
19. Saint Patrick’s Church Artifacts Collection. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.  
20. Saint Patrick’s Schools, L.S1158. Lowell Files Collection. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
21. “St. Patrick’s Day: It’s Celebration in Lowell Fifty-one Years Ago.” From Selections, Historical and General, Mostly Concerning Lowell and Vicinity : Largely from the Lowell Newspapers of the Past Thirty Years. Lowell, MA: 1894.
22. Saint Patrick's Day, LF.S1157. Lowell Files Collection, Vertical Files. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell.
23. Shepley Bullfinch Richardson and Abbott, Lowell Cultural Resources Inventory 284 Suffolk Street, St Patrick's Church. 
24. University of Massachusetts Lowell, Center for Lowell History. “UMass Lowell Center for Irish Partnerships Archive.” Internet Archive. 2018.
25. University of Massachusetts Lowell Library.  “The Early Irish Catholic Schools of Lowell.”  The Town and the City: Lowell Before the Civil War.  Accessed March 13, 2023.  
26. University of Massachusetts Lowell Library. “What is the Acre?” 2022. Exhibit Collection.