PITTSFIELD, Mass. — At its annual meeting held on Dec. 14, the Berkshire County Historical Society elected its board of directors and officers for 2024. 

 

John Hamilton will serve as President; former President Cynthia Brown will assume the role of Vice President; Robert Salerno will serve as Treasurer; and Sharon Coe as Secretary. Valerie Anderson, Jenna Sciuto, and Laurie Werner were re-elected as directors. New directors elected are Heather Archibald, Matthew Brogan, Linda Cantoni, Michael Dell'Aquila, Cornelius Hoss, Sarah Trudgeon, and Jenna Ware.

 

About the new directors

 

Heather Archibald is Assistant Treasurer at the Pittsfield Cooperative Bank. She has been a member of the BCHS Education Committee for several years. A lifelong resident of the Berkshires, Heather is a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and Kiwanis International as well as other volunteer groups giving back to the Berkshire community. She has a bachelor's degree from The College of New Rochelle, an MBA from MCLA, and is a graduate of the New England School of Financial Studies. 

 

Matthew Brogan is the head cider maker and co-owner of the Berkshire Cider Project in North Adams, founded with his wife Katherine Hand in 2020. Berkshire Cider Project is collaborating with Arrowhead on a demonstration orchard of heirloom apple varieties which will eventually be a source for future cider making. Matt is a native of Syracuse, New York and a graduate of Colgate University.

 

Linda Cantoni is a retired attorney who served for 35 years in both private practice and public service in New York City, as a corporate litigator, white-collar criminal defense attorney, and assistant district attorney. She was a volunteer stage director for the Regina Opera Company, Brooklyn for many years and still serves on its board, as well as on the board of Distributed Proofreaders, an online nonprofit that prepares public-domain e-books for Project Gutenberg. She and her late husband were part-time residents of Lee from 2003 until 2019, when they made it their full-time home.

 

Michael Dell'Aquila is the General Manager of Hot Plate Brewing Co. in downtown Pittsfield. Prior to relocating to the Berkshires to start Hot Plate Brewing Co. with his wife, Sarah Real, Mike was a New York City-based creative marketer for fifteen years.

 

Cornelius Hoss is a land use planner and is currently the Community Planning Program Manager at the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. He is familiar with the work of the Society through his past work experience with the City of Pittsfield, providing support to the Historical Commission and administering the Community Preservation Act program. Cornelius has a bachelor's degree in anthropology with a focus on archaeology and United States history, and a master's degree in urban planning and real estate development.

 

Sarah Trudgeon is a poet and the literary director of The Mastheads, a Pittsfield public humanities project and writers' residency located at Herman Melville's Arrowhead. Through The Mastheads' poetry-in-schools program, Fireside, she brings poetry workshops and other poetry programming to Berkshire County public school students and community members.

 

Jenna Ware joined the Crane Museum of Papermaking to serve as the museum's first director in 2019. Prior to coming to Crane she worked for Shakespeare & Company for nearly thirty years as a teaching artist, administrator, and director. There Jenna specialized in creating family friendly productions for the summer season and eventually became associate director of the education program.