Co-Sponsored by The Lowell Historical Society. This lecture traces Paul Moody’s career from his early life in Newbury and Amesbury to his years of remarkable inventiveness at the Boston Manufacturing Company at Waltham, and finally his vital role in the founding of Lowell and the early success of the city’s cotton mills. While highlighting Moody’s many contributions to American industrial development, this story is less about technology and more about how an unschooled machinist could rise to a position of prominence in a major corporation. It’s not only about what Moody and men like him did for the Industrial Revolution, but also about the social and economic success that the Industrial Revolution provided to them. Tony Connors is an independent writer, editor, and teacher in early American and local history. He is particularly interested in the area where the local history of southeastern New England expands beyond its boundaries and meets up with larger events, issues, and trends in American history. He is currently working on a book about whaling captains who engaged in the slave trade.