Congratulations to Berkshire Historical Society
Originally a Mass Humanities-funded project, with Barbara Allen, then Berkshire Historical Society Director as lead, and Frances Jones Sneed, Mass Humanities Scholar, this collection of 20 interviews of African American elders was initiated in the late 1990’s.
A few years ago, we were able to act as stewards as the tapes were brought out of storage.
Berkshire Athenaeum helped by making digital copies of the cassette tapes. Berkshire Historical applied for and managed a Mass Humanities grant, coordinated the project and made digital enhancements to render audible some of the more difficult to hear tapes. We helped by inventorying the project and finding a transcriber. Then we acted as steward for the transcription process. (We were the Mass Humanities Advisor on the latest part of this project.)
Congratulations, Berkshire Historical Society! You have persevered, worked so hard, and preserved and brought to the public an important legacy project.
Here is it, available for listening, now: