Events for: Pollard Library

Nora Neale is a beekeeper from Topsfield, Mass., a member of the Essex County Beekeeper's Association, and a familiar face from the bee building at the Topsfield Fair. Geared toward elementary and middle school students, the interactive presentation will include a presentation in a bee suit, candle-making and honey tasting. Supplies will be provided.

Jeff Belanger is one of the most visible and prolific researchers of folklore and legends today. A natural storyteller, he’s the award-winning, Emmy-nominated host, writer, and producer of the New England Legends series on PBS and Amazon Prime, and is the author of over a dozen books (published in six languages). He also hosts the award-winning New England Legends weekly podcast, which has garnered over 4.5 million downloads since its launch, and ranks in the top 1 percent of all podcasts as far as popularity, according to Listen Notes.

Andrew Krivak is the author of four novels: The Bear (2020), a fable about the last two people on Earth, and the novels of the Dardan Trilogy: The Sojourn (2011) a National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction; The Signal Flame (2017); and his newest, Like the Appearance of Horses (2023). Krivak will read from Like the Appearance of Horses and discuss how and why he wanted to weave one family’s experience of war into three separate novels. In honor of being in Lowell, Massachusetts for the Moses Parker Greeley Lecture series, he will also discuss where his life-long love of Jack Kerouac’s work has taken him as a novelist.

John Kozik’s obsession with collecting and researching Ouija began when he inherited his grandmother’s board in the late 1990’s. He was surprised to discover that Ouija was simply one specific brand of Talking Board, and that they date much further back than the Ouija of Parker Brothers fame. Through years of dedication John is now one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject. In 2013 he became a founding member of the Talking Board Historical Society, a group that researches and preserves the history of Talking Boards. Fast forward to 2019 - John opened the doors of The Salem Witch Board Museum to the public. It is the only museum dedicated to the history and lore of the Talking Board, boasting the largest collection of boards, obscure memorabilia, and ephemera under one roof. Whether you believe it’s the tool of the Devil or just an innocent kid’s game, a visit to the museum will allow you to learn more about this fascinating and iconic piece of Americana.

Tom Toohey is a modern day Irish storyteller who has traveled to Ireland 20 times and collected hundreds of stories. Every week more facts become available on the internet about our ancestors. These facts are like the skeletons of our predecessors. Family stories about these antecedents can add flesh to their bones and give life to their existence. In many families only one or two remember these stories. When they pass away the stories are lost. This presentation offers a method for collecting and recording family stories for future generations. It has music, animation and humor and is entertaining as well as informative.

The life of Mary Wygodski is a first person account of a woman who lost her entire immediate family in the Holocaust. She survived three concentration camps, made her way to Israel where she took part in the War of Independence, and eventually settled in America where she has been a passionate spokesperson about the Truth of the Holocaust. Tom will touch on the heroic but ultimately frustrated efforts of Edith Nourse Rogers to bring orphaned Jewish children to America.

Our Good Name is the story of Stefano and his young bride Celestina, both Italian immigrants who leave behind the back-breaking field labor in their beloved Northern Italy to find their place in a strange new country. Inspired by true events, this is a historical novel that surprises with a fresh and honest perspective about the hard realities of immigrant life in the United States and the courage required to make a home of one’s own in the “New World.” Catherine was born and raised in Milford, Massachusetts. She is an active member of the vibrant literary community of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She divides her time between Mexico and Cape Cod.

In her memoir, Feed Me: A Story of Food, Love and Mental Illness, author Erika Nichols-Frazer writes about learning to cope with bipolar disorder, an eating disorder, and alcohol addiction in her family through the healing power of food and community. She will discuss mental health and the stigma surrounding it as well as strategies for coping with mental illness in yourself or loved ones.

Paul Marion has been a writer and community activist since the 1970s. He is the author of several collections of poetry as well as the editor of the early writings of Jack Kerouac, Atop an Underwood, and other titles. His recent book, Lockdown Letters & Other Poems, begins with the Covid pandemic and expands to subjects like travel, Space, and sports. His Union River: Poems and Sketches (2017), spans 40 years of work and offers a lyrical Americana address for our dramatic time. Among other accomplishments on the community front, he co-founded the Lowell Folk Festival and Lowell Heritage Partnership, an alliance of people and organizations whose mission is to care for architecture, nature, and culture.

“The Greek Connection: The Life of Elias Demetracopoulos and the Untold Story of Watergate” is the internationally acclaimed biography of a controversial journalist and freedom fighter who relentlessly battled for democracy, honor and survival against abusive Greek and American governments trying to destroy him. There are Greater Lowell and Massachusetts elements to the saga, which includes the first-ever detailed profile of Greek-American tycoon Tom Pappas. This compelling narrative sheds new light on historic 20^th century events. Doris Kearns Goodwin called it “a magnificent work.” The Washington Post described it as “cinematic.” Author James H. Barron is a Massachusetts attorney, journalist, university lecturer, and a founding board member of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. For more information check out thegreekconnectionbook.com.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a mayor? Well after serving three terms as a mayor and being a local and regional government official for over thirty-five years I think I know. So I wrote this book to pull the curtain back just enough to let you peak in and know as well. and how public engagement can be a full contact sport. It is a fascinating life with funny memories and memorable events that leads to a rewarding life.

Medicine in the Victorian Age has a lot to tell us about today’s world: how we handle a pandemic, and how far medicine has come. Prepare to gasp, cringe and chuckle, as you discover the horrifying practices and milestones discoveries that characterize turn of-the-century medicine. Join us as Janet Parnes, will be portraying Miss Myrtle Mills, takes us on this in person exploration of practices that defy today’s medical sense.

In 1861, approximately 1000 men from Massachusetts answered the call from their country and marched off to war to keep the Union together. The 12^th Massachusetts fought in just about every major battle in the Eastern Theater of Operations against the Army of Northern Virginia.  The 12^th Massachusetts suffered more than any regiment, but continued to demonstrate their honor and bravery right up to when they were pulled off the front lines in 1864. The 12^th was led by two citizen soldiers, Fletcher Webster, son of Daniel Webster and James L. Bates, who led the regiment after Fletcher was killed in his first action.

Join Marjorie Turner Hollman will share Easy Walks (not too many roots or walks, relatively level, with something of interest along the way) that are in the greater Lowell area, as well as lots of suggestions, experience, and ideas that can help you have a more positive experience in the outdoors. This lecture will be especially appropriate for elders, those with disabilities or mobility challenges, and families with young children. Hollman also offers advice for clothing choices, hiking poles, back packs, when spending time on local trails. Hollman affirms, “Regardless of your challenges, the outdoors is not off limits.”

“Hurricanes whip up the seas, generate gargantuan waves and mammoth storm surges, and pour down such diluvial quantities of water that they seem to presage the end of time.” As the subtitle promises, the book starts 500 years ago, on Christopher Columbus’s fourth trip to the New World. Understanding a phenomenon and protecting oneself from it are two different things,” writes Dolin. The best preparation needs foreknowledge of trouble, and quality weather forecasting requires a distributed network of people who can communicate observations quickly. “Seen from space,” Dolin writes, “hurricanes are one of the most beautiful and mesmerizing features in the world. Racing around the globe like downy, spinning pinwheels floating silently above the Earth, their very magnificence belies their dreadful impact on American history.”

Learn about honeybees, what it takes to keep them healthy and happy, and how adulterated honey became one of the biggest agricultural frauds in history! Dr Anderson will bring a few jars of honey to sample and you are encouraged to bring your own favorites to be reviewed and discuss its origins. Dr Anderson holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology and Entomology from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Entomology from North Carolina State University. Dr Anderson is a Science Policy Fellow with the Entomology Society of America, and is also a certified beekeeper and a life member of the NC State Beekeepers Association.

How much do you know about baseball uniforms? This fascinating topic will explore the boundary of fine art and everyday objects. The Worcester Art Museum has a new exhibit about the history of the American baseball shirt that chronicles the design evolution of baseball jerseys and their impact on street wear and fashion over the past 170 years. Museum curator of American Art, Erin R. Corrales-Diaz, traces the development of the iconic American- style baseball shirt.

Jane Brox will be reading from and discussing her new book, Silence: A Social History of One of the Least Understood Elements of Our Lives, which examines the ways in which silence – both chosen and imposed – shapes our minds and our lives.  She focuses her inquiry on two institutions that place silence at their center, the monastery and the penitentiary, and she considers the essential and increasingly rare role of silence in contemporary life.  The Wall Street Journal notes that this “engaging book offers readers an opportunity to explore a few crucial moments of…history and, in the process, to ponder what silence—or its absence—tells us about the world we are making every day.”  Silence is Jane Brox’s fifth book.  It has been selected as an Editors’ Choice by The New York Times.  She is also the author of Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light, and three books that explore the changing place of agriculture in America.  Those books are centered on her family’s farm in the Merrimack Valley.  She grew up in Dracut and now lives in Maine.

Boxcar Diplomacy is about two trains that crossed the Atlantic after WWII. “The Friendship Train” was initiated by columnist Drew Pearson who noted that Communists were getting a foothold in a hungry Europe and Americans could showcase democracy with gifts of food. On November 7, 1947, eight loaded boxcars rolled out of Los Angeles; eleven days later, the train arrived in New York with 700 boxcars bound for a hungry Europe. In February 1949, France reciprocated with a “Merci Train:” forty nine boxcars, one for each state and one for Washington DC which carried over a thousand gifts ranging from children’s drawings and handcrafted flags, to valuable works of art. This lecture will take you back to the very beginning of the Cold War, when America united in a gesture of friendship designed to showcase what people living in a free country could do. Americans chose not to isolate themselves from Europe's far greater need. And France would not let the moment pass without acknowledging their gratitude, --for the sacrifices Americans had made on their behalf in war and in peace.

In this multimedia presentation based on his latest book, Tougias chronicles the thirteen harrowing days of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the outlines the steps President Kennedy made to reach a decision on a course of action. Special emphasis is given to the heroes of the crisis: the U-2 pilots who flew unarmed over Cuba to secure the photographic proof that the Soviets were installing nuclear missiles on the island.

Sean McAdam was a sports writer for the Providence Journal and The Boston Herald,a broadcaster co-host on WEEI-FM the Big Show, an analyst on NESN, now author, Sean McAdam has covered the world of sports like no other. His latest book covers the history of the city’s major pro and college sports teams, as well as local traditions such as the Boston Marathon and the Beanpot hockey tournament. McAdam went to Chelmsford High School and is a member of the Chelmsford High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame. If you love sports, you don’t want to miss this chance to hear about your favorite sports team and share your memories with Sean.

A system of law presents at least two faces: a sheltering force protecting citizens’ rights, and a potentially oppressive instrument of control. These two aspects of the law have revealed themselves powerfully during thirty-five years on the bench. Fiction can vividly portray the dilemmas posed by a legal system. A discussion of these challenges may help us to understand law’s essential role, while allowing us to recognize and confront its imperfections. Judge Ponsor serves as a senior US district judge in the United States District Court for the Massachusetts Western Division. He is the author of two New York Times bestseller novels, The One-Eyed Judge and the Hanging Judge, featuring Judge Norcross.

In 2002, Lewiston, Maine garnered national attention when more than 2,500 Somali migrants chose to make the city their home. The unexpected migration changed the city forever, and the lives of many local residents, including Cheryl Hamilton. As the manager of the resettlement program at the time, Hamilton offers a unique perspective of her hometown in the months following 9/11. During this lively discussion, discover how the Lewiston community responded and the lessons Hamilton learned about fostering community and responding to bias and prejudice. Hamilton's presentation is part of the 2018 Lowell Reads series honoring Amy Bass' acclaimed non-fiction, One Goal.

Their founder was Joseph Smith. In the 1820s, Smith began to “translate,” from tablets he kept wrapped in a tablecloth, a series of visions that became the Book of Mormon, a turgid sci-fi novel that nonetheless managed to sway a nucleus of converts. Smith also managed to be so provocative that he and his followers found themselves hounded, in a series of increasingly dramatic upheavals, from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Illinois. Alex Beam’s “American Crucifixion” recounts the journey of these outcasts. Before they finally evacuated to the Great Salt Lake Valley, which was then part of Mexico, they thought they had found a safe haven in Nauvoo, Ill., the most elaborate of Smith’s foundations. Thence, from all over the United States, Canada and the British Isles, the Mormons flocked. At one point, the city’s population may have surpassed Chicago’s. But Smith’s gift for outrageousness prevailed, and in June 1844 a mob lynched him and his brother. Smith was 38 years old.

Butterfly is about James McNeil Whistler (1834-1903), the volatile American artist who battled (mostly in Victorian England) for personal expression in the arts; Butterfly presents Whistler at two phases in his life: as a bankrupt artist in his 40’s on commission in Venice and as an established, yet lonely, legend in his 60’s. Stephen Collins currently performs nine one-man shows and has been met with rave reviews for over a decade. Mr. Collins’ performances deliver not just the poetry and plays, but he also brings the poets and playwrights to life on the stage. The shows convey an understanding of the impact and the reactions of the characters to their respective times, giving the audience not just a performance, but an experience.

John Gfroerer explores the power of television as a communication medium and the ethical implications of manipulating the viewer by means of the choices made behind the camera through the final editing process. By examining the artistic techniques used to persuade, induce, and entice us, Gfroerer considers the extent to which television teaches or simply tantalizes us. Are ethical boundaries crossed by the use of these techniques, and to what extent as media consumers should we care?

The Lowells of Massachusetts were a remarkable family. They were settlers in the New World in the 1600s, revolutionaries creating a new nation in the 1700s, merchants and manufacturers building prosperity in the 1800s, and scientists and artists flourishing in the 1900s. The Wall Street Journal calls this “[A] stirring saga…; Vivid and intimate”, Ms. Sankovitch’s account entertains us with Puritans and preachers, Tories and rebels, abolitionists and industrialists, lecturers and poets. Ms. Sankovitch has made a compelling contribution to Massachusetts and American History.”

Jeffrey R. Wilson, is a Preceptor in Expository Writing at Harvard University, will discuss the election of Donald Trump, its impact on the intellectual climate, and some of the ways in which Shakespeare was used in the coverage of the US election.

Join wildlife rehabilitator Tom Ricardi for his ever popular presentation on birds of prey. This program is designed for all ages. Tom will share the natural history of these magnificent birds, demonstrate some of their unique behaviors and inspire children of all ages to appreciate, respect and conserve these important members of our wild kingdom. Tom Ricardi is a licensed rehabilitator and wildlife biologist. He runs Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway, MA, and is now retired after 40 years of service as a Massachusetts Environmental Conservation police officer.

For over three hundred years America’s lighthouses have kept countless ships from wrecking, save untold lives, and contributed to the growth and prosperity of our nation. Eric Jay Dolin will give us a guided tour of America’s lighthouses. He will cover all aspects of the evolution of our lighthouse system and the people who kept them running and the families that lived at them. It is a riveting tale of nasty political battles, technological innovations, natural disasters and war. The story of America thru the prism of its beloved coastal sentinels.