Smithsonian Leaders Hail Berkshire Museum SparkLab Partnership

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Executives of the Smithsonian praised Berkshire Museum's new interactive SparkLab as part of the beginning of a new national initiative it hopes to spread around the country.

The new SparkLab exhibit area, which opened to the public on Saturday, is one of the first three of its kind, emphasizing an interactive environment aimed at instilling concepts of innovation and invention in youth.

“We think that real innovation will happen in this space,” according to Claudine Brown, Assistant Secretary of Education & Access at the Smithsonian. “Every SparkLab is different, and this one is architecturally beautiful.”

Berkshire Museum is one of 192 affiliate museums to the Smithsonian, and is among the first four satellite locations worldwide for the SparkLab exhibit program, which is also now in Reno, Kansas City, and India. Two more are currently in development in Alaska and Michigan.

“It is one of those museums that is an exemplar of the museums that we work with,” Brown said of the Berkshire Museum.

Jeffrey Brody, deputy director of the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, said that the original SparkLab at the Lemelson Center served over 600,000 youth within its first three years. Early successes, he said, prompted the museum to open the program up as a national network.

“It is spectacular to have SparkLab at the Berkshire Museum,” Brody said.

SparkLab is a “multi-disciplinary experience” whose mission is to document and interpret invention, cultivate innovation, and promote education about the role of creativity and invention, he said.

“Our collective efforts to bring SparkLab here is a milestone in our common pursuit to share and instill in the next generation of young people, the knowledge and skills and tools that they're going to need to change the society around them."

Maria Mingalone, Berkshire Museum's Director of Interpretation, said that SparkLab is a crucial opportunity for children to have opportunities for unstructured play which cultivate creative learning.

“Play is really a child's work,” according to Mingalone. “It's so important to have a creative laboratory space that is child-directed, and allows visitors to gravitate toward the activities that they have a genuine interest in, and allows for open ended play and exploration."

“It's a reminder to us adults, too, to stay creative,” Mingalone said.

The unique space for the Berkshire Museum's SparkLab was designed by architects Tessa Kelly and Chris Parkinson of CPTK Architects, both Berkshire natives with an interest on educational and cultural projects.

The museum says the new exhibit will remain in action for at least the next two years.

WWII Veteran Reflects on D-Day at VFW Post Induction

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:25PM / Saturday, June 06, 2026

The members in the picture are Bret Miller, Coast Guard, Desert Storm; Hank Morris, Army, Vietnam; Brad Havill, Navy, Global War on Terror; VFW Post 448 Vice Cmdr. Mark Pompi, Army, Global War on Terrorism, Afghanistan; Post Cmdr. Arnold Perras, Korea; Joe Difillipo, Army, Vietnam; Teri Billington, Navy, Desert Storm; and Carmen Ostrander, Air Force, Afghanistan.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Anthony Salatino Jr. says his memory is getting a little foggy about his time in the Army. 

But he remembers how terrible D-Day was, and feeling lucky he wasn't among those in the initial invasion force 82 years ago. 

 

"One of the most horrible things was in Normandy. We went shortly after D-Day. I got lucky, very lucky on D-Day. We went to a staging area the night before … and at the very end, somebody called, I was in headquarters, they called all the headquarters personnel at the center," the 103-year-old said. "We did not go. There's about 30 of us. The rest of the battalion was gone, and the reason for that was because there was another battalion coming from the States, and they had no headquarters. 

 

"We stayed back, but we did go to Normandy shortly after that, and when we went to Normandy, it was all over."

 

Salatino was attending an induction ceremony on Thursday at the Lt. John N. Truden VFW Post 448. Joseph Texidor, who served in the Army for 17 years with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sworn in as the post's newest member. 

 

Salatino served in the Medical Corps and wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a World War I veteran wounded at Verdun. Salatino was in the Army for about three years.

 

"The whole memory is what I just told you, very, very alive to me," he said. "That is, I can never forget, never forget that."

 

D-Day on June 6, 1944, was the start of Operation Overlord, and the largest invading force to cross the English Channel since 1066. Their goal: to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany.