51视频

Eight years ago, Suzanne Beebe, a Lowell native who is Franco American on both sides of her family, joined Lowell鈥檚 and began learning as much as she could about the history of French Canadian immigration and settlement in New England.

Beebe, who grew up speaking English at home in a neighborhood without a Franco American church or school, began to understand how all-embracing life in the French enclaves of Lowell and New England had once been.聽

She also realized that much of that history and culture was in danger of being lost.

鈥淚 was painfully aware of how many people who had grown up in these enclaves were now in their 80s and 90s and passing rapidly from the scene,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o I was asking myself, 鈥楬ow are we going to preserve their memories, photos and other artifacts of Franco American life?鈥欌��

The answer to her prayers, Beebe says, was the arrival at 51视频 of French and Francophone Studies Associate Professor Merc茅d猫s Baillargeon, a Qu茅b茅coise native of Montr茅al, in fall 2022.聽

Baillargeon hoped to connect with Lowell鈥檚 Franco American community 鈥� which made up one-third of the city鈥檚 population in the 1920s 鈥� study its history, and preserve and share as much of that history as possible by creating a within the university library system.聽

That archive, formally launched in June, will also become part of the , which are hosted by the University of Maine and include collections at colleges and universities across the Northeast.聽

Now, Baillargeon and Beebe are working with the and the Franco-American Day Committee on collecting, documenting and digitizing Lowell-area newspapers, photos, recipes and family histories to share with academics, students and future generations.

鈥淧ersonal diaries and correspondence are super-interesting, and people love reading them, especially those with personal elements of immigration and Franco American culture and food and festivals,鈥� Baillargeon says.

The Center for Lowell History, a part of the university library system that is housed downtown in a building owned by Lowell National Historical Park, already has troves of , including a collection of sheet music and microfilm reels of the longest-running French language newspaper in Lowell: , published from 1886 to 1957.

The University of Maine is digitizing some of the materials for 51视频鈥檚 archive under a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, while the Franco-American Day Committee and some smaller internal and external grants are paying for an outside contractor, Film Rescue International, to digitize 尝鈥椭迟辞颈濒别 and make it searchable.

One document that鈥檚 already fully available, thanks to the sharp eyes and hard work of UML student Lilian Whitehead, a biology major who works at the Center for Lowell History, is a handsome book documenting the and its satellite church, St. Jean Baptiste, in the downtown neighborhood then known as Little Canada.

The book was published in 1916 to commemorate the renovation and reopening of St. Jean Baptiste, four years after it was gutted by fire. Whitehead found it while browsing through boxes of donated materials.

鈥淚t was really well-preserved for its age and printed on beautiful glossy paper, with hundreds of pictures,鈥� says Whitehead, who is being paid for her work under a $10,000 Community-Engaged Research and Scholarship Fund grant awarded to the new archive by the university.聽

The book, which Whitehead spent months scanning into a format that allows viewers to flip through it, features photos of some of Little Canada鈥檚 most important sites, including the former Franco-American Orphanage (later the Franco-American School) on Pawtucket Street and 鈥淭he Grotto鈥� dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes behind it.聽

The Community-Engaged Research and Scholarship grant is also paying for Baillargeon and Beebe to organize events for the Franco American community and record them for the archive, including the showing this past April of a 1979 documentary about Lowell鈥檚 Little Canada and a panel discussion with the grown children of people who appeared in the film and History Professor Robert Forrant.

Forrant oversaw a 2020 effort to place historical markers around the neighborhood that was once Little Canada; it was mostly razed in the late 1960s as part of an urban renewal project.

鈥淭he archive allows us to memorialize the culture so it鈥檚 not forgotten, but it鈥檚 also so people can come together and reminisce,鈥� Baillargeon says.聽

The events Beebe and Baillargeon have helped to organize and film include a 2023 discussion by women about their differing experiences of being Franco American in Lowell and a 2024 talk by author and local activist Charlie Gargiulo about his book,

Most recently, about 70 people turned out in June to celebrate the formal launch of the Greater Lowell Franco American Digital Archive.

They watched the film of the three women and ate traditional Franco American foods, including cretons (a pork spread), tourti猫res (pork pies) and p猫tes de soeur, a pastry.

They applauded Beebe, the 2025 recipient of the Franco-American Day Committee鈥檚 鈥淔ranco American of the Year鈥� award for her work as a liaison between the community and the university.

And they mourned 鈥� in both English and French 鈥� the loss of spoken French among Franco American families and the closing of many local Franco American institutions, especially the churches and parish schools, once the center of the city鈥檚 Franco American social life.

That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 urgent to preserve the community鈥檚 history now, Beebe and Baillargeon say, not only for students and historians but for anyone who wants to learn more about why their ancestors left their farms in Qu茅bec for Lowell 鈥� and how they maintained and adapted their culture.

鈥淧eople have an interest in learning about their roots and learning about where they come from,鈥� Baillargeon says.