Oral History Center brings in paper making heritage project

By / February 3, 2022

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: What is Community History and what can it do for you?

By / February 1, 2022

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

Free workshop on Relationship Building in an Oral History project, from Columbia University

By / January 27, 2022

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

What is Community History: A Conversation on the Commons event

By / January 21, 2022

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

Archival supplies small grants

By / January 21, 2022

        (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

A Sense of Place, our podcasts

By / December 24, 2021

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

Oral History Center informal Fall workshops, and Winter Chats

By / November 2, 2021

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

Mass State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) info session on Veterans Heritage Grants, and the Roving Archivist

By / October 25, 2021

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

Bronx Covid oral history project hosts panel

By / October 22, 2021

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

Connecticut League of History Organizations: Colleague Circle on humanities/cultural grants

By / October 21, 2021

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

Climate stories

By / October 13, 2021

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

Conversation on the Commons upcoming: Collaborations between historical societies, libraries, schools

By / September 21, 2021

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

By / August 24, 2021

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

UBU Theater performs Women of Tyringham, based on oral history interviews, this weekend

By / July 23, 2021

‘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, opening Aug. 6

By / July 12, 2021

  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

A StoryWalk in downtown Pittsfield: When I Close My Eyes, Ty Allan Jackson

By / June 29, 2021

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

Women of Tyringham, A Site Specific Oral History Theater Project

By / June 25, 2021

  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

Oral History Summer School features event with Rikers Public Memory Project and Survivors Voices

By / June 10, 2021

  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

Northwestern Connecticut Community College students interview people about work

By / June 2, 2021

  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

Indigenizing Historical Narratives, June 2, via zoom

By / June 1, 2021

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

We are writing about the stories, in the Berkshire Eagle, our stories: from theater to ministry to politics, to math, even war

By / May 28, 2021

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

Sheffield Historical Society hosts conversation about WWII on the Homefront

By / May 14, 2021

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

Mass History Conference announced

By / April 15, 2021

  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

By / March 11, 2021

  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

Mass Memories Road Show for Paper Making story gathering day is set

By / March 2, 2021

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 webinar postponed

By / February 18, 2021

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, a National Parks program

By / February 16, 2021

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

A conversation about digital archives

By / February 2, 2021

  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

Massachusetts state grant for preserving veteran heritage, including oral history

By / January 29, 2021

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

What we have been doing

By / December 4, 2020

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

Back to Top