To donate to the Berkshire County Historical Society, click HERE.
Thank you!
Berkshire County has a legacy of cultivating arts and culture and embracing environmental stewardship. Important writers, artists, musicians, composers, and choreographers call the Berkshires home. The county’s rich history includes revolutionary thought leaders who shaped history. Susan B. Anthony, Leonard Bernstein, W.E.B. Du Bois, Elizabeth Freeman, Mother Ann Lee, Yo-Yo Ma, Herman Melville, Norman Rockwell, James Taylor, and Edith Wharton all called the Berkshires home.
The Berkshire County Historical Society tells the stories of the Berkshires, its people, and landscapes through its collection, a robust program of talks with notable authors, writing workshops and fellowships, nature hikes, lectures by historians and scholars, exhibitions, and special events such as plays, music, and dance performances.
We support our fellow Berkshire-based institutions through loans of objects from our growing collection, participation in collaborative education projects, act as a convener of local historical societies and cultural organizations, and by assisting in research. In 2025 we partnered with the City of Pittsfield to fund a feasibility study for the restoration and redevelopment of the William Russell Allen House.
The jewel in the crown of BCHS is Arrowhead, the historic home and farm of Herman Melville, the greatest American novelist of the nineteenth century. It is here that he wrote his epic novel Moby-Dick. BCHS preserves this important National Historic Landmark and interprets Melville’s legacy through scholarship and public programs.
Although BCHS receives generous support from local, state and federal government agencies, foundations, and local businesses, we need your help to continue the work we do. Please consider joining with others who love the Berkshires and help us continue to tell its stories.
What does it take? Here are costs associated with some of our programs:
$150 for a classroom visit by a BCHS docent
$250 for three gallons of custom-made exterior paint for Arrowhead
$400 for bird banding demonstration with Berkshire Bird Observatory
$850 for for a series of four in-class programs about Melville’s writing or the legacy of Elizabeth Freeman including books for students
How do I give? Just click HERE. Thank you!