Kerouac Scroll in Lowell

Kerouac's On the Road scroll will be on display at Boott Cotton Mills Museum, Lowell National Historical Park from Friday, June 15, to September 14. The opening celebration will be on Friday, June 15, from 6 to 9 pm at Boott Cotton Mills Museum.

Lit buffs, counter-culture aficionados, and the last remaining beatniks will have the chance to view a sacred scroll - the original manuscript for Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

While writing his legendary novel in 1951, Kerouac got the idea to tape sheets of paper together so he could feed them continuously through a typewriter. (Wonder what he would have done with a laptop?) He wound up with a 120-foot-long document.

Although he was known as a wanderer, Kerouac was from Lowell, and the city is getting its chance to honor him properly with a series of events. The owner of the Indianapolis Colts - the New England Patriots' chief rival football team - bought the scroll is sending it out on a tour. The scroll makes its debut Friday, June 15, at an opening celebration that includes a performance from Aztec Two-Step.

The On the Road in Lowell website lists all the other Kerouac-related events going on this summer.