The Lowell Experiment: Public History in a Postindustrial City

by Cathy Stanton

In the early nineteenth century, Lowell, Massachusetts, was widely studied and emulated as a model for capitalist industrial development. One of the first cities in the United States to experience the ravages of deindustrialization, it was also among the first places in the world to turn to its own industrial and ethnic history as a tool for reinventing itself in the emerging postindustrial economy. The Lowell Experiment explores how history and culture have been used to remake Lowell and how historians have played a crucial yet ambiguous role in that process.

The book focuses on Lowell National Historical Park, the flagship project of Lowell's new cultural economy. When it was created in 1978, the park broke new ground with its sweeping reinterpretations of labor, immigrant, and women's history. It served as a test site for the ideas of practitioners in the new field of public history―a field that links the work of professionally trained historians with many different kinds of projects in the public realm.

The Lowell Experiment takes an anthropological approach to public history in Lowell, showing it as a complex cultural performance shaped by local memory, the imperatives of economic redevelopment, and tourist rituals―all serving to locate the park's audiences and workers more securely within a changing and uncertain new economy characterized by growing inequalities and new exclusions.

The paradoxical dual role of Lowell's public historians as both interpreters of and contributors to that new economy raises important questions about the challenges and limitations facing academically trained scholars in contemporary American culture. As a long-standing and well-known example of "culture-led re-development," Lowell offers an outstanding site for exploring questions of concern to those in the fields of public and urban history, urban planning, and tourism studies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Academic, Local History, American History, Museums, Textbooks

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2006

About the author

Romance novelist Cathy Stanton, also wrote under the pseudonym Cathryn Clare.

Reviews

[char · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really need to reread this book sometime and actually spend time with it, instead of skimming for school. But the parts I did actually read were so pertinent and helpful for thinking about how I interpret immigration history in relation to contemporary immigration. Highly looking forward to hopefully returning to it!

[H. Givens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the idea of an in-depth study about one public history location, and I appreciate that Stanton is an ethnographer/anthropologist and wants to study the public historians as well. However, her tacked-on "thesis" (that Lowell isn't connecting the past with the present enough) makes no sense whatsoever. She literally says within the book that Lowell's interpretation is remarkably critical and progressive, but visitors are mostly using it to reassure themselves. She could've gone much deeper into the unexamined relationship between historian and visitor demographics to explain it, but instead she blames the historians for not doing enough without addressing visitors at all. From what she described, the historians are doing their best. You have to realize that visitors aren't just sheep to be led, they're active agents who use historical sites for their own purposes. It's not a hierarchical relationship.

Beyond that, I don't think she understands a historian's ethical limits. She seems to want some kind of Marxist education center. Whether or not I "agree" is a moot point -- if Lowell WAS a Marxist education center, then she could complain it's not doing enough, but it's not. It is NOT APPROPRIATE for a museum to take that strong of a political stance unless the museum exists for that express purpose. As a national park, Lowell does not. So I'm left wondering if Stanton knows anything about the field she claims to study.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this, a great examination of the 'rebirth' of Lowell as a museum of American Industry. Stanton gets into all kinds of interesting issues here: why did this seem to work in Lowell but not for other depressed industrial towns? Did it actually work in Lowell? Can a 'cultural' rebirth actually take the place of the industrial jobs that left? How do the public historians on the job at the Lowell park feel about their work? What does this all say about our relationship to industry? In what ways has the story given at the museum glossed over the actual realities in the story of Lowell? And so on. I'm actually very jealous of Stanton, this is exactly the kind of thing that I'd like to be working on. The issue of our northeast industry and what to do with our old industrial cities really interests me. This is a hard book to find (I had to read it at the Library) but there is lots of great stuff here.

[Christi Britten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthropologist/Ethnographer Cathy Stanton examines Lowell National Historical Park as an experiment in public history. I think her methodology and research methods are on point as she lives life alongside key players in Lowell making observations, recording interviews, attending cultural events, and doing background research. She makes excellent points about public history as a form of educational, conscientious social activism. She builds more bridges while openly acknowledging criticisms of Lowell. In the end, the reader gains a constructive model.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes...the material was certainly interesting...but this read more like a research project than a book and it kept referring to other chapters which I found confusing. My favorite part of the book was looking at the raw data in the appendix. My favorite chapter was Rituals of Reconnection which discussed people and their reactions and reflections at Lowell. I am interested in visiting this National Park.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stanton's analysis of the city of Lowell and its transition into becoming a living museum, is thorough and engaging. While certain aspects of the entire cultural economy and creative sector existence is problematic and inequitable, Stanton offers insight into how these issues and problems might be addressed or at least considered when conceiving of public history museums and projects.

[Mary Bronson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my Public History class and this was not a bad book. Some of the essays were a little bit boring to read, but I have to say most of them were interesting. I remember reading lots of Historical Fiction books about Lowell and their industrial town from the 1800s. So I had some knowledge going in and it was interesting to read more and learn more about it.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

She has some really cool insights about public history, but it didn't quite gel together for me at the end. I think it's still worth reading, though, especially if you are into historic preservation or museums.

[Thomas Mackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work is most helpful to review the culture of the public history profession.