Poster #1, “You can’t buy blades!”, above left, with Orlando at Harlen’s Barber Shop, 557 Central St., Lowell. Poster #6, “Record of a City: Dangerous Galleries!”, above right with Amy Dalton, property manager at Lowell Housing Authority.

Chasing Annie Powell: 100 Posters Project Debuts

It has been a busy few months at by Annie Powell (bAP)! They have ramped up their social media and web presence, made new discoveries about Annie’s life in England and Lowell, and started planning a 2025 block party in partnership with the New England Quilt Museum and Gallagher & Cavanaugh. A British historical journal is now going to press with a 3,000 word, 30-image article on Annie’s life and work in West Yorkshire, England and Lowell.

To celebrate Annie’s work in and around Lowell, bAP recently launched the 100 Posters Project. From spring 2024 through 2025 they will be distributing 100 free posters of Annie’s cityscapes and portraits to local businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies that occupy space in the same location, or nearby, to the sites and structures photographed by Annie one-hundred years ago. 

The first poster prints have been placed with hosts at the Harlen Barbershop, Lowell Housing Authority’s Mercier Center, St. Casimir’s Parish, the Portuguese-American Center, Panela Restaurant, the Richard and Nancy Donahue Family Academic Arts Center, the Arts League of Lowell, Coburn Hall at UMass Lowell, the Pollard Memorial Library, Opticks, and the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation (which is also a sponsor of by Annie Powell). A poster for Enterprise Bank is now at the printer. Posters will remain on view until October 2025. 

To find out more about the project or to become a poster host, visit 100 Posters Project online or follow on Facebook or Instagram.

Photograph: Lowell Normal School Women's Basketball, circa 1903, attributed to Annle Powell (1859 - 1952)

Courtesy of University Archives Photograph Collection, Center for Lowell History, University Library, University of Massachusetts Lowell

By Annie Powell is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that promotes the life and work of pioneering Lowell photographer Annie Powell (b. 1859, West Yorkshire, England–d. 1952, Lowell MA) through the acquisition, preservation, authentication of her images, scholarly research, and by organizing public exhibitions, events, and educational programs. Their aim is to create a place for her in the diverse narrative of Lowell, Massachusetts.