In his later years Lawlor became well-known for his local 'diarist' histories of Wellington, including Old Wellington Days and More Wellington Days. His output as a writer is probably most noteworthy for its quantity and sheer diversity, from his Catholic writing to the assiduous scribbling of thousands of words about beer, eventually published as The Froth-Blower s Manual and the The two Baxters : diary notes, by Pat Lawlor with an essay by Vincent O’Sullivan published by Millwood Press in 1979.