The Tsongas Industrial History Center is celebrating its 35th anniversary by launching a series of events to engage the community with Lowell’s rich history.

Paul Kuttner brings a wealth of experience in the arts, community-campus partnerships and informal education to his new role as director of the Tsongas Industrial History Center and director of educational partnerships for the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Sheila Kirschbaum’s dedication to hands-on education and the city has won her the 2024 Patrick J. Mogan Learning City Award. Kirschbaum is director of the Tsongas Industrial History Center, UML’s education partnership with Lowell National Historical Park.

The Lowell National Historical Park’s new “One City, Many Cultures” exhibit showcases the history and experiences of various immigrant communities in the city.

The Tsongas Industrial History Center, a partnership between the university’s School of Education and Lowell National Historical Park, has welcomed more than 1.4 million students and teachers from around New England for hands-on lessons about Lowell’s history, technology and environment since its founding in 1991.

An interdisciplinary team of UML faculty, led by Assoc. Profs. Meg Sobkowicz-Kline and Chris Hansen, have received a nearly $3 million National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award for a new graduate student program focused on developing sustainable materials and chemicals that won’t harm water resources.

“Untold Lowell Stories: Black History,” an online research guide published recently by the UMass Lowell Library’s Center for Lowell History, sheds light on the city’s anti-slavery and abolitionist movements. Last year, the center was named an Underground Railroad Research Facility.

When school field trips to the Tsongas Industrial History Center – a partnership between Lowell National Historical Park and UML’s College of Education – were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, center staff seized the opportunity to create live, interactive virtual field trips for K-12 students.

To celebrate the Little Canada neighborhood that once stood where East Campus is now, the university has installed four new informational panels that tell the story of the life and times of Lowell’s French Canadian immigrants. The project draws on the research of History Prof. Robert Forrant and several students.

The Tsongas Industrial History Center has created a series of free, live webinars to educate teachers about the historic struggles of Black people, women and other groups to win the vote and have a say in government.

Midway through the spring 2020 semester, as first-year education majors were taking a new, required class in educational technology, schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Studying virtually themselves while learning how best to use online teaching tools is giving these students a new perspective on technology’s promise – and its limitations.

The College of Education is stepping up to help teachers in K-12 schools transition their classes online during school closures caused by COVID-19. Clinical Prof. Michelle Scribner-MacLean created a Facebook group with teacher resources, and the Tsongas Industrial History Center is beefing up its social media offerings and website.

Summer camps at the Lowell National Historical Park allow children to explore history, science and more while having fun. The camps are run by the Tsongas Industrial History Center, a partnership between the park and UML’s College of Education.

"Remember this day," UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney told the students who were the first ones in the nation to get their hands on a Lowell quarter, depicting a mill girl working at a power loom with a view of the Mill City -- including the Boott Mill clock tower. "You are making history."

The U.S. Mint’s release of a new state quarter featuring Lowell National Historical Park represents a quiet triumph for UML’s Ellen Anstey, who has devoted a decade to promoting, researching and critiquing designs for the coin.

Student Employee of the Year Mary Connell, a sophomore art major from Princeton, helps promote all that Lowell has to offer through her work with the Community Relations office.