Lowell Historical Society’s

Annual Meeting Featuring a Presentation on

Charles Dickens and the Lowell Mill Girls

by

Dr. Natalie McKnight, Boston University

Date:May 27, 2012, 1:00-2:30

Location:Boott Mills Events Center, Second Floor, Lowell National Park, Boott Gallery, Boott Cotton Mills Museum, 115 John Street, Lowell, MA

Dr. McKnight will be talking about Dickens and the Lowell mill girls, and with a particular focus on how and why Dickens was so impressed with the Lowell factories and particularly the women he met there. Dr. McKnight will emphasize Dickens’ high regard for the journal the mill girls produced, The Lowell Offering. She will suggest ways in which his visit to Lowell shaped his attitude and approach toward his own role as author for the rest of his career.

Dr. McKnight has published three books on Victorian fiction, Idiots, Madmen and Other Prisoners in Dickens and Suffering Mothers in Mid-Victorian Novels (St. Martin’s/Palgrave) and Fathers in Victorian Fiction. She is Co-Editor of Dickens Studies Annual and Archivist and Subscription Manager of Dickens Quarterly.

Available both before and after Dr. McKnight’s presentation is the Exhibit:

Dickens and Massachusetts: A Tale of Power and Transformation

This major exhibit was co-curated by Diana Archibald, Associate Professor of English at UMass Lowell, and David Blackburn, Chief of Cultural Resources and Programs, Lowell National Historical Park. It is being held at the same location as Natalie McKnight’s presentation in the Boott Gallery (first floor in the Lowell National Historical Park. This interactive exhibition will open on March 30, 2012 and run through October 20, 2012. It features a rich collection of rare Dickens artifacts, on loan from the Charles Dickens Museum of London, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the American Antiquarian Society, the New York Public Library, the Fellman Collection at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Perkins School for the Blind and other institutions. In this exhibit, an iconic 1842 portrait of the young Dickens, painted by Boston artist Francis Alexander, will receive its first public display in over 30 years.

The Dr. McKnight’s program and the Dickens and Massachusetts exhibition are free to the public.

Sponsors

Lowell Historical Society

Lowell National Historical Park,

University of Massachusetts Lowell