Paradise or Plight? Melville and Berkshire Industry

Actor Marcus Kearns and historian John Dickson team up for a program discussing Herman Melville’s influence on industry in Berkshire County during the nineteenth century.  

The evening begins with a dramatic reading of Melville’s short story The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids. First published in 1855, the story combines two sketches, one set in the center of London’s legal industry and the other in a New England paper factory (possibly based on The Old Red Mill in Dalton, Massachusetts, where Melville had visited). 

John Dickson will then lead a discussion of the story and how Melville’s views on Industrialization influenced Berkshire County’s industrial history followed by a Q & A.

Use the BOOK NOW button to purchase tickets; $15 BCHS members, $20 non-members.

Marcus Kearns
For the last decade, Marcus has been in and out of NYC where he was staying busy as a props carpenter for Broadway, production manager for everything from Redbull to Rhianna, & performing whenever he had the chance. He moved back to the Berkshires in 2021 and worked as Director of Production & Operations for Barrington Stage Company until 2024 when he left to be a full time dad. Marcus most recently appeared on stage in ‘Circus & the Bard’ at Shakespeare & Company.

John Dickson
John Dickson serves as Chair of the Pittsfield Historical Commission and was a former board member of the Berkshire Historical Society.  He has authored a local history book, Berkshire County’s Industrial Heritage, on the 19^th century mills in this corner of Massachusetts.  He received a master’s degree in public history where he completed a thesis on the Berkshire Athenaeum.