The Lally Family: Loyal to the Powell Studios
Starting in the early 1890s, the Lally family became loyal clients of John and Annie Powell's photography studio. Both families lived in the Grove section of Lowell where the Concord River narrows before joining the Merrimack River.
Michael Lally recently shared his archive of 78 family photographs, mostly taken by the Powells. The images are evidence of the trust his ancestors placed in the couple to make high-quality commemorative portraits of their celebrations. This practice continued even as the Powells' marriage faltered, John gave up his stake in the studio, and Annie freelanced for other established Lowell studios.
Michael still lives and works in the neighborhood that was home to the extended Lally, Riordan, Murphy, and Powell families.
His collection is invaluable as it contains a complete record of one Irish-immigrant family’s aspirations in their new city. It shows the evolution of the Powells’ marketing and how they presented Annie’s partnership to the public. This was a time when women in business had few models for advertising. The Lally family’s consistent use of the Powell studios yields many cabinet cards printed at different times in the studio’s history. The photos with the printed logotype allow us to match up studio marks with specific dates and with addresses that fill in additional details about the Powells.
In particular, it helped me better understand what happened in the years after 1906, the year the Powells lost their home and studio at 55 South Whipple St.
It was known that John pivoted from photography to an ice cream distribution business and a store on the corner of Thorndike and Gorham streets. Several months of heavy advertising failed to turn a profit so he auctioned the shop’s fixtures to make ends meet. The shaming of a second bankruptcy, coupled with a public accusation of adultery, may have prompted his move about 10 miles away to Methuen. He spent approximately a year there. From what we can tell, John was estranged from his family back home after he left West Yorkshire, England in 1892.
In contrast, all six of Annie’s siblings and their families migrated from West Yorkshire to the Lowell area. After 1906, surely with the support of her family, Annie continued to pursue photography.
I already discovered that during this period she sold images to postcard publishing houses. In particular, our organization has acquired several images from the popular 1909 Lowell automobile race. These have her handwriting and suggest she was a postcard street vendor. We knew she documented municipal sites for Proprietors of Locks and Canals as well as Lowell City Engineers during the same period.
Annie was making portraits of mill workers and recording poor housing conditions for Rev. George Kengott whose Harvard doctoral thesis was later published as the book The Record of a City. Annie took photos for the Lowell Daily Courier as well. Her byline in the newspaper read simply “Photo by Powell.” Later, John, who became an eyeglass fitter, occasionally tried to make money from photography, and published a sports club photo under his first and last name: “Photo by John Powell.”
The Lally collection suggests that Annie made photographs of Michael’s ancestors after 1906 while she was freelancing for other studios such as Lathrop & Cunningham, the Serge and Celestine Duclos sisters, and Marshall Hayden.
Through the collection, we were also able to verify another of Annie’s studio addresses corresponding to John’s optician store at 727 Lawrence St. This may have been the site of Annie’s last professional studio.
In the tumultuous years from 1906 to 1910, as we see in the Lowell City Directory ads above, John’s business address moved from 55 South Whipple St. to 727-729 Lawrence St. This address was a few houses closer to the Concord River. (Dick Howe, Middlesex North register of deeds, thinks it is today’s 709 Lawrence St.) And the new photography studio, which we associate with Annie, is advertised along with John’s new eyeglass fitting establishment.
The Lally collection contains several stamps which show that the short-lived store was also home to a photo studio, almost certainly run by Annie. I feel that the uncertain letter swashes to the left of “owell” are a deliberate or ambiguity in the naming that Annie may have known about. I’m curious about what you think the letters could be. Place your comments on our Facebook page!
Bernie Zelitch, executive director
Originally posted in newsletter Dec. 20, 2024.
