Monuments and Memory: History and Representation in Lowell, Massachusetts

As cultural affairs director for the federally funded Lowell Historic Preservation Commission, Norkunas worked with artists from around the country to interpret the city’s past. Travelling throughout Lowell, she found that the city had more than 250 locally constructed monuments memorializing ethnic communities, local men and boys, and many other groups. Realizing the rich potential for exploring issues of memory and history through both the local monuments and the federally funded public art, she began this in-depth study.