This year-long study conducted by the American Folklife Center yielded an ethnographic collection consisting of 196 hours of sound recordings covering a wide range of subjects and activities, including oral history interviews, religious services, musical events, parades and religious processions, ethnic festivals, ethnic restaurants, and neighborhood tours. An additional 23 hours of sound recordings of musical events and oral history interviews were copied from originals lent by Lowell residents. Collection materials also include correspondence; field notes; questionnaires; neighborhood maps; reports; publications; administrative files; interview transcripts; black-and-white photographic prints, contact sheets, and film negatives (ca. 10,000 images); and color slides and prints, (ca. 3,500 images) which documented community life in Lowell, Massachusetts from 1987 to 1988.
