The Berkshire area was at one time home to more than 50 paper mills, 26 of which were in the town of Lee. Paper Town Projects was established as a 401 c (3)  in 2008 to document the work of remaining six Lee mills at a time when it seemed they might all close.  The… Read more

Conversations on the Commons invites you to:Community History: What is it, and what can it do for you?February 3, 2022, 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. With Lee Blake, President of the New Bedford Historical Society and Penni Martorell, curator of collections at Wistariahurst Museum and Holyoke’s City HistorianWhat is Community History? What formats does it take? What is… Read more

February 3 | Lessons in Relationship Building from a Participatory Oral History Project   February 3, 2022/  7-8:30 p.m.  Please contact Rebecca McGilveray at rlm2203@columbia.edu with specific access requests or questions.  SIGN UP NOW  Where: Zoom – Sign up to receive the link here When: Thursday, February 3, 2022, 7:00pm-8:30pm EST Oral history is the… Read more

Conversations on the Commons: Community History February 4 @ 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Details Date: February 4 Time: 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Event Category: Conversations on the Commons (events) Event Tags: Conversations Venue Online MA United States View Venue Website

        (Photo Margaret Cherin, former archivist at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.  She recommended that oral history project coordinators consider the archive where their work will go even before they begin to do interviews.  We pass that advice along.)       This post is a grant announcement from the Mass SCHRAB… Read more

The  podcasts we are making are now listed on Spotify and a few other places. https://open.spotify.com/show/5ELmGlhFiIo1hVxINQO4Fw Of course, they are here on this site, too. (Podcasts and other Inspirations)   We are fairly new at this podcasting thing, but we are learning, thanks to a few people, including Circle Round podcast (WBUR) creators Rebecca Sheir… Read more

Planning and getting started on your oral history project …or, picking up a paused project November/December 2021 Workshop Series:  From planning, to interview, to archive: An informal series to get you started or re-started     Session 1, November 16, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Plan your oral history project:  We will walk through the early planning to… Read more

Archives Hour with the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB): Veterans’ Heritage Grants and more October 28, 2021, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Join representatives from the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) to learn more about resources available to you and your organization for managing historical records. We’ll go over this year’s round of Veterans’… Read more

The Bronx Community College Archives is pleased to announce that we are co-hosting an online panel next Tuesday that will be highlighting our latest oral history project, thanks to our collaboration with Mutual Aid NYC! Community Care during COVID Oral History Project  documents stories of mutual aid, food justice and public health equity in the Bronx. We hope… Read more

When: Friday, October 29, 2021 12:00 PM, EDT Where: Zoom Will you be attending?   Yes Maybe No     EVENT DETAILS: CT Humanities’ SHARP Capacity Grants are now live and accepting applications! These grants will provide a total of $640,000 to help humanities organizations and other cultural institutions respond to and recover from the coronavirus… Read more

What’s Your Climate Story?   A Hunters Point Environmental Education Center Program   Registration is required to join this event. If you have not registered, please do so. English : New York Time Event status: (Register) Date and time: Thursday, October 14, 2021 6:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00) Change time zone Duration:… Read more

Taking History Across Town: Collaborations between historical societies, libraries, and schools Friday, September 24, 2021, 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Join us for a conversation about collaborations across town. What do you do, and how well does it work? What does not work? Join our panelists, Sabrina Kaplan, Outreach Manager at the Duxbury Rural and Historical… Read more

Housatonic Heritage Walks 2021   Click For Heritage Walks List Save The Dates – Five Autumn Weekends! Annual Housatonic Heritage Walks in the Berkshires (MA) and Litchfield County (CT) Saturdays & Sundays on September / October weekends: September 4, 5 & 6 September 11 & 12 September 18 & 19 September 25 & 26 October… Read more

‘DIRECTOR Q&A’ Q&A: UBU Theater director Ann Gallo on giving voice to Tyringham’s women with new oral history theater project By Judith Monachina Tyringham community members gather for a rehearsal of “Women of Tyringham,” a community-based oral history theater project produced by UBU Theater in Tyringham. Photo provided by Maggie Dillon Katz for UBU Theater… Read more

  Muh-he-con-ne-ok: The People of the Waters That Are Never Still On view August 6, 2021 to January 9, 2022 Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA Explore the story of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community from early history to modern culture and beyond from their own perspective, with historical accounts, contemporary oral histories, timelines, photographs, objects, and more in this compelling new… Read more

Ty Allan Jackson’s When I Close My Eyes Downtown Pittsfield StoryWalk gives us a new way to experience a written story Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. and the Berkshire Athenaeum will present a StoryWalk of Ty Allan Jackson’s book “When I Close My Eyes,” page by page, throughout Downtown Pittsfield, MA, from July 7-21, 2021.   https://tyallanjackson.com/product/when-i-close-my-eyes/ When I… Read more

  We are so thrilled to help get the word out about the UBU Theater’s  Women of Tyringham. They had to postpone the performances last year, and nothing is stopping them this year. Ann Gallo and her team have been working on this theater project, which was created using oral histories of people from Tyringham, played… Read more

  Are you looking for something to watch/listen to Friday evening? Friday evening event, online.  Tomorrow (Friday, June 11), OHSS presents a conversation between Sarita Daftary of the Rikers Public Memory Project & Alisa Del Tufo of Survivors Voices: Women of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Learn more about these two projects and how oral history… Read more

  We were very happy to work with students at Northwestern Connecticut Community College on their project that dealt with the theme of work and the dignity of work.    In workshops, the students learned about oral history interviewing.  Here are slides from the final presentation they gave, via zoom, at the end of the… Read more

Keynotes of Change: Chris Newell, Indigenizing Historical Narratives When: Wednesday, June 02, 2021 2:00 PM, EDT Where: Zoom Will you be attending?   Register Not attending     EVENT DETAILS: Indigenizing Historical Narratives Chris Newell, Abbe Museum Wednesday, June 2 at 2 p.m. Non-Native understandings of the history of Connecticut are often centered around colonial… Read more

The Berkshire Eagle July 24, 2021 ‘DIRECTOR Q&A’ UBU Theater director Ann Gallo on giving voice to Tyringham’s women with new oral history theater project By Judith Monachina Tyringham community members gather for a rehearsal of “Women of Tyringham,” a community-based oral history theater project produced by UBU Theater in Tyringham. Photo provided by Maggie… Read more

What a pleasure it was to meet with elders from Sheffield, some of whom had lived in the Berkshires during the war, and others lived elsewhere at the time but live here now.  Many had relatives in Europe at the time of the war.  Jen Owens of Sheffield Historical and Paul O’Brien, board president, organized… Read more

  The Massachusetts History Alliance offers the annual Mass History Conference.  See that announcement and others at this site:  https://masshistoryalliance.org

  Achieving Real Impact Via Virtual Programming Presented by the Connecticut League of History Organizations When: Tuesday, March 16, 2021 1:00 PM, EDT Where: Zoom Will you be attending? Register Not attending EVENT DETAILS: To Zoom or not to Zoom… Offering virtual programs at your museum or institution is not as daunting as you may… Read more

The Mass Memories Roadshow of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, will bring a team of staff and volunteers to do a story gathering event on the theme of paper making in the Berkshires.  Paper makers, former and present, as well as members of the local communities who had any connection with paper making or with… Read more

Remote Interviewing: Special Considerations & Case Studies has been postponed due to power outages in Texas, where the presenter lives. The new date for the webinar is Thursday, February 25, 3 – 4:30, Join on your computer or mobile app Click here to join the meeting Questions? Contact Lu Ann Jones at luann_jones@nps.gov, Park History… Read more

Remote Interviewing: Special Considerations & Case Studies: In this webinar Steven Sielaff from the Baylor University Institute for Oral History will discuss the special circumstances that impact a remote interview as opposed to more traditional settings. Topics will include connecting with interviewees, remote quality concerns, and extra legal, ethical, or security precautions for your project. In… Read more

  Conversations on the Commons invites you to: Archives’ Hour with the State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) February 5, 2021, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. A conversation with Alejandra Dean, Digital Archivist at the Massachusetts Archives, and Evan Knight, Preservation Specialist for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC). Join us for an informal… Read more

The State Historic Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) just announced a grant for preserving veteran’s heritage. Municipalities, libraries, schools, and nonprofits in Massachusetts are eligible to apply for up to $20,000 to fund monuments and memorials, conservation, oral history projects, or archival projects relating to Veterans’ history. While projects do need to be related to Veteran’s… Read more

With the days cooler – and shorter – and work happening at home rather than on campus,  we are doing quite a lot of zooming. But we are also attending to the all-important back end of things, tightening up policies, and making sure everything is saved and ready to go into the UMass archives. We… Read more