image description — Norman Rockwell Museum President Anne Morgan, left, President Barack Obama, Ruby Bridges Hall and museum Director Laurie Norton Moffatt view Rockwell's 'The Problem We All Live With' in a West Wing hallway near the Oval Office on Friday.

President Greets Rockwell Museum Group

09:59PM / Friday, July 15, 2011Print Story | Email Story

Bridges Hall, Morgan and Norton Moffatt sent us this picture of them waiting outside the west entrance of the White House to see the president.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A contingent from the Norman Rockwell Museum was greeted at the White House on Friday to mark the museum's loan of the iconic American illutrator's piece "The Problem We All Live With" to the "nation's house."

President Barack Obama greeted the museum's Director Laurie Norton Moffatt, President Anne Morgan and Trustee Ruby Bridges Hall, the focus of the painting.

Rockwell's 1963 painting was inspired by Bridges Hall's history-changing walk integrating William Frantz Public School in New Orleans on Nov. 14, 1960. The president requested the loaning of the painting from the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum to honor the 50th anniversary of her childhood experience.

"It was deeply moving to hear President Obama speak with Ruby Bridges about her school experience and Norman Rockwell's painting," said Norton Moffatt. "He acknowledged Ruby's walk to school and her mother's courage as the direct heritage that made it possible for him to serve in the White House."

Bridges Hall replied, "we all stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us."

"The Problem We All Live With" is hanging in a West Wing hallway near the Oval Office.

This isn't Norton Moffatt's first visit to the White House. In 2008, she represented the museum when it was awarded a National Humanities Medal from President George W. Bush.

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Pittsfield Considers Repairing East Part Cemetery

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:57AM / Friday, October 02, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Historical Commission will consider grant opportunities for repairs to East Part Cemetery.

A resident reached out to the city with concerns about degradation in the half-acre burial ground at the top of Williams Street. East Part Cemetery was established in the early 1800s and has about 300 interments.

“It's a nice old cemetery, and basically, (the resident) had had concerns that the stone wall had taken some damage, the gravestones have taken some damage, and was wondering if there's anything that could be done to repair the gravestones and the wall," City Planner Kevin Rayner told the commission on Monday.

In cooperation with cemetery leadership and residents, the Historical Commission will consider applying for Community Preservation Act funds to support repairs. West Part Cemetery, on the other side of Pittsfield, has previously used CPA funds for revitalization work.

The 1080 Williams St. property is owned by the city and managed by the Pittsfield Cemetery Commission. Rayner presented photos of broken and overgrown gravestones, parts of the stone wall collapsing, and knocked-over obelisks.

Some aspects could use general maintenance and restoration, he observed.

According to the Pittsfield Cemetery and Crematory's website, East Part Cemetery was established around 1808 on land owned by Nathan Webb, who permitted and authorized its use as a public burying ground.

In 1842, Nathan Webb's son, also named Nathan Webb, deeded the property to the Methodist Episcopal Society of Pittsfield as a public burying ground, and in 1893 the Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Society transferred their control of the cemetery to the Proprietors of the Pittsfield Cemetery. Their action was confirmed by the Berkshire Probate Court.