PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire County Historical Society (BCHS) at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead is now open for guided tours through October.  

 

Throughout the summer special events and exhibitions will be presented in the newly renovated historic barn and on the grounds. 

 

Tours are available Thursday through Monday beginning at 10 am, with the last tour beginning at 3 pm. Rates for guided tours of Melville’s house are: adults $16.00, seniors $14.00, students $10.00, children 12 and under, free. Members of the BCHS receive free admission. BCHS participates in the Card to Culture program extending free admission to EBT, WIC, and Connector Care health plan insurance cardholders. Visit mobydick.org for details.

 

 

Exhibitions

 

July 10–October – "Lifting the Veil: Customs Surrounding Mourning in the Berkshires"

 

This exhibition examines mid-19th century rituals and objects related to death and dying in the Berkshires and beyond. Lifting the Veil looks at the historic practices surrounding death, burial, and those left behind. BCHS collections will be featured in this exhibit, including objects not regularly on view to the public.

 

Free with admission

 

August 1, 2021–January 9, 2022 at The Berkshire Museum

 

"Muh-he-con-ne-ok:  People of the Waters that are Never Still"

 

This exhibition showcases the past, present and future of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community by presenting historic and contemporary objects combined with oral and written histories. Muh-he-con-ne-ok:  People of the Waters that are Never Still is presented at The Berkshire Museum in collaboration with the Berkshire County Historical Society, Bidwell House Museum, Stockbridge Library, Trustees of the Reservations, Housatonic Heritage, Williams College, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans.

 

Admission: Adults $13, Children 4–17 $6

 

 

 

 

Special Events and Programs

 

Monday, June 7 – Fundraiser Launch Party Moby-Dick Audio Book, 7pm

 

"During the pandemic I spent my time bringing as much great literature out on audio as possible" said  award-winning audiobook producer Alison Larkin whose company Alison Larkin Presents is based in West Stockbridge. "I had a hunch it was time for a truly accessible recording of Moby Dick, so we hired the popular Berkshire actor Jonathan Epstein whose narration is truly mesmerizing." 

 

Limited tickets are available for this special reading and Q&A with Epstein and the producers of this epic new recording of Moby Dick. To download and listen to the audiobook, visit alisonlarkinpresents.com.

 

$20 BCHS members, $25 non-members; tickets available at berkshire-county-historical-society.square.site

 

Thursday, June 17 – Melville Biographical Research Lecture: Warren Broderick, 6:30 pm

 

Join Melville scholar and New York State retired archivist Warren Broderick as he presents newly discovered original source documents that will shed light on Melville’s life and work. Learn about previously unknown records that bear Herman’s signature as well as the first published reference to a missing novel.

 

FREE for BCHS members, $10 non-members: tickets available online at mobydick.org or by phone at 413.442.1793

 

Sunday, June 27 – Victorian Quadrille Orchestra, 7 pm

 

The Victorian Quadrille Orchestra presents dance music from the Civil War and Victorian era.  The orchestra invites you back to a time before electronics and recorded music as they perform original music written in the 1800s using authentic instrumentation. Hear Quadrilles, Lancers, Polkas, Waltzes, Reels and more.

 

FREE event

 

Program sponsored by the Pittsfield Cooperative Bank

 

July 1–15 – Mastheads Writers’ Residency

 

The Mastheads is a writers’ residency program that creates a dialogue about place through literature and architecture.  Five original architectural spaces serve as studios for selected writers-in-residence to produce new work each summer. Each space is inspired by an American author who produced work in and around Pittsfield – Melville, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Longfellow, and Holmes Sr. The studios remind us of the past while providing a platform for new creativity. Visit themastheads.org for more information.

 

July 10 – Mastheads Final Readings, 6 pm

 

The fifth-annual reading of new work by Mastheads authors in the historic Arrowhead barn.

 

Free event

 

Sunday, July 11 – Book reading - Caroline Hellman: Children of the Raven and the Whale: Visions and Revisions in American Literature, 3 pm

 

Children of the Raven and the Whale: Visions and Revisions in American Literature (University of Virginia Press, 2019) looks at how contemporary United States writers have responded to texts that were historically central to the American literary canon - including Melville's Moby Dick. In their rewritings and layering of new stories over older ones, contemporary writers chronicle a spectrum of American experience, and appraise the project of the United States. This talk will explore Melville's influence on the work of author Ta-Nehisi Coates, in addition to discussing the larger landscape of American literature today.

 

$10 BCHS members, $15 non-members

 

July 24 & 25 – Guild of Berkshire Artists Art Show, 10 am - 6 pm

 

Art@Arrowhead: A Whale of a Show! showcases the works of local and regional artists around the theme of Stories in Art. The show is a great opportunity to support local artists by purchasing their work. 

 

July 31–August 4: Moby-Dick Fifth Annual Read-A-Thon, 10am-5pm

 

"Call me Ishmael" and sign up to read part of Melville’s masterpiece on the site where it was written. Come on your own or bring a group to read with us until we finish the book.

 

$5 recommended donation

 

Sunday, August 1 – Herman Melville’s Birthday and Monument Mountain Hike, 9 am

 

Celebrate the day (August 4, 1850) when Melville met Hawthorne on a hike up Monument Mountain. Read the poem they read together at the summit and share sparkling wine (they had champagne). Meet in the parking lot at Monument Mountain, off Route 7 in Great Barrington.

 

Free event

 

Thursday, August 5 – Berkshire County Historical Society Fundraiser, 4 pm

 

Celebrate summer and local history with an evening by Morewood Lake at the Country Club of Pittsfield. The evening includes a short play reading remembering Sarah Morewood, the lady of Broad Hall, whose estate was sold to the club’s founders.

 

Tickets are available at mobydick.org and  include heavy hors d'oeuvres; cash bar available.

 

August 13–15 – ReWritten, 7pm

 

ReWritten is an immersive performance that explores the often-silenced intimate relationship between authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Moving between their lives, work, and remaining letters, ReWritten reimagines an intergenerational queer love story that helped shape American literature. Through dance, live music, visual art, projection, and text this performance questions what happens when we say no to dreams when we want to say yes. Co-created and performed by Tom Truss and Matthew Cumbie.

 

$10 for BHS members; $15 for non-members

 

Use your EBT card and get 50 percent off

 

Kids 12 and under free

 

Sunday, September 5 – Lecture and Film Screening: Professor Michael Hoberman and the film "Call Us Ishmael," directed by Dr. David Shaerf, 3-6 pm

 

Michael Hoberman, an American literature professor at Fitchburg State University, will make his case that Melville is an ideal writer for people who describe themselves as skeptical romantics. His talk highlights his own path to Melville's writing, and it will also offer a brief discussion of how he teaches two lesser-known texts ("Benito Cereno" and "The Encantadas"). Call Us Ishmael chronicles filmmaker David Shaerf's journey into the world of Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Throughout his quest he encounters artists, musicians, professors and performers, all of whom are singularly seeking the white whale. Call Us Ishmael gives viewers an insight into a community devoted to this timeless text.

 

$15 BCHS members, $20 non-members

 

COVID-19 CODE OF COURTESY

 

The Berkshire County Historical Society is part of a Berkshire-based consortium of cultural organizations, who have developed a unified COVID-19 Code of Courtesy that addresses public safety for all of our visitors. These guidelines have been reviewed and endorsed by the Berkshire Public Health Alliance and Tri Town Health Department for their respective communities. For complete details, visit mobydick.org.