LYNN — A more than three-decade-long project has documented 300 hundred years of the city’s history.
“Promising Cures: The Pursuit of Health in a 19th Century New England Community: Lynn, Massachusetts,” is a 1,400-page history of health care in Lynn ranging from 1629 to 1929, with most of its focus on the 1800s.
For author Andrew Rapoza, the work has been decades in the making.
“This crazy book ended up being a 35-year effort because it was just in my free time,” Rapoza, who studied history and English at Boston College, said. “I never doubted it… I was writing as I went along.”
Rapoza, who moved to Lynn in 1983, began his research into the history of health care in the city after he found an old medicine bottle embossed with the name of a local pharmacy when looking through the attic of his newly purchased home.
“Given my nature, I went to the Lynn library and did some research to find out about that pharmacist and what kind of medicine they did,” Rapoza said. “That’s how the thing started moving forward… I just continued to research Lynn’s history.”
Rapoza continued to look into the city, becoming a member of the Lynn Historical Society before he and his family eventually moved out of the city in the mid-1990s.
However, even after leaving, Rapoza continued to do his research and write a narrative that takes readers through the history of health care and public health in Lynn, covering everything from local witch hysteria to the early use of X-ray machines at local hospitals.
“I try to make the reader feel like they are in that moment in time,” Rapoza said. “It’s the kind of book that you should be able to pick up anywhere and read any small portion that you want, or read the whole thing.”
Rapoza said the story is not meant to cover the major figures in the history of health care in Lynn, like Mary Baker Eddy and Lydia Pinkham, but rather the everyday struggles of the people who lived in the city through its history.
“This is a book about the people, about everyone in Lynn,” Rapoza said. “I try so hard to show stories and vignettes about individuals, people you’ve never heard of.”
Though physical copies of “Promising Cures” are available on Amazon, all of the volumes of the project are available for free online, providing an accessibility Rapoza said was a crucial aspect of his work.
“This was never an exercise in trying to make money or become famous. Nobody in their right mind tries to become famous or make a lot of money by writing a local history,” Rapoza said. “History is not mine. This history is the people of Lynn. It’s their history, all I’m doing is just trying to be a conduit and share their legacy.”
Rapoza, who now lives in Texas, will return to the city next week for two discussions on different topics relating to his project at the Lynn Public Library on Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m. and at Lynn Museum on Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m.
The author will also host discussions at the Centre Congregational Church in Lynnfield on Oct. 17 at 7:00 p.m. and at Swampscott Public Library on Oct. 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Rapoza, who noted that each discussion will cover a different topic, said he was excited to be back in the place that inspired his “labor of love” and to share it with those who call the area, and especially the city of Lynn, home.
“The history of Lynn was just too deep in my roots, it’s in every fiber of me,” Rapoza said. “I feel like I became part of Lynn and Lynn became part of me.”
