“Samuel S. Pollard“, Mayor 1956-1959, oil on canvas
The name of the City Library was changed in 1981 in memory of Samuel S. Pollard whose political career spanned four decades beginning in 1941. “We might rightly refer to him in the future as Mr. Lowell” praised a solemn City Councilor Raymond F. Rourke, master of ceremonies at the dedication. The name of the library was changed to the Samuel S. Pollard Memorial Library.
There is a Lowell tradition to display the portraits of the city’s mayors in City Hall. In spite of a long history of civic engagement, Pollard was reluctant to sit for his portrait. The painting was commissioned posthumously by Pollard’s close friend Edward Sullivan, who spent nearly 50 years as clerk of the courts for Middlesex County. The artist, Helen Dube, was from Hamilton, MA.
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