Here’s what the Lincoln Review looks like online. You can make the pages larger with the plus and minus buttons at the bottom right. The broken-square button lets you toggle back and forth from full screen to partial screen. Use the arrow keys on your computer to turn the pages. Click image to enlarge or click here to go directly to the online Lincoln Review. The first issue starts on page 6 of 752.
The Lincoln Review ceased publication in 2019 after more than 40 years — but now all of its back issues are available on the web where anyone can search and browse them.
The Lincoln Review was founded in 1977 by Ruth Hapgood, Nancy Bower, and Margaret Marsh “to provide residents and friends of the town of Lincoln with a small magazine or newsletter which will contain material of informational, educational, and literary interest.” Among its goals: “to bring back the history of the town to public awareness,” “to further literary ends by publishing good writing and by reviewing books; and in general, to provide a generally available means of public communication to further the cultural life of the town.”
Over the years, the Lincoln Review published thousands of news stories, artwork, poetry, historical articles, letters to the editor, and more. It was supported by advertising and subscriptions and was also sold at the Old Town Hall Exchange and Donelan’s. The last editors were longtime Lincoln residents Betty and Harold Smith.
After Harold’s death in 2019, Betty handed over the Lincoln Review’s reins to Lincoln Squirrel editor Alice Waugh, who reinvented it in digital-only form as the Lincoln Chipmunk with the help of donations and a grant from the Lincoln Cultural Council — but also wondered if there was a way to digitize the back issues stored at the Lincoln Public Library. Barbara Myles, then the library’s director, submitted a request in 2021 to Digital Commonwealth, a free service that scans documents and images that are important to Massachusetts cultural heritage and uploads them to the web.
There was a backlog due to technical issues and the pandemic, but Myles learned in February 2023 that Digital Commonwealth was back in full swing. After being told that the Lincoln Public Library would “move up the list significantly” if someone brought the issues to the Boston Public Library rather than waiting for pickup, Myles did so in March. Then came the day in July that Melissa Roderick, who recently succeeded Myles as library director, got word that the job was done.
The online collection of Lincoln Reviews can be viewed at archive.org/details/lincolnreview14linc. The link is also on the library’s website under Archives & Local History >> Research the Collection (scroll down to “Online Collections”). The library still has the paper issues as well, though you’ll need an appointment to access them.
In the early years, the publication had copy typed on a manual typewriter and hand-made ads. The first issue in March 1977 opens with piece by Conservation Commission member Bob Lemire (still a Lincoln resident) about Lincoln’s open space plan (other founding members who are still with us include Janet Boynton, Beverly Eckhardt, and Rhoda Taschiaglou). Later in the issue are pieces by people running for town office and the upcoming Annual Town Meeting, which would feature a measure asking residents to buy the town’s first ambulance. In contrast to ambulances of the time that resembled station wagons, “the vehicle would have to be one of those big van-type machines.”
Also in that issue: ads for Lincoln institutions like Doherty’s and the Clark Gallery as well as bygone businesses such as the Broken Bridle Leather Shop on Lewis Street, the Richardson Drug Company in the long red building in next to the railroad tracks, the Country Squire restaurant in the gray building directly across the tracks, and the Inside-Outside Home Decorating Studio (an early mall tenant).
The Lincoln Chipmunk publishes writing and artwork by anyone with a Lincoln connection. The next deadline is September 1; click here for submission details.