MARRIAGE AND MEMORY
Weddings in Berkshire County Through the Centuries
July 4 – September 29, 2025
Marriage has been part of many cultures for thousands of years, and a variety of the customs practiced today have their roots in earlier traditions. Marriage and Memory explores these traditions through objects in the Berkshire County Historical Society collection. The clothing collection at BCHS is one of the largest of its kind in western Massachusetts, and includes over 200 objects relating to weddings in the Berkshires from the 1770s to 1970s. The exhibition looks at the individuals who wore these pieces, their stories and how their lives overlap with events in Berkshire history as well as how their experiences relate to contemporary weddings.
The exhibition is presented in the exhibit barn with additional material in the historic house. Admission to the barn is free. Entrance to the house is available by guided tour only; purchase your ticket by using the BOOK NOW button.
The exhibition contains eight wedding dressing ranging from 1833 – 1970 as well as attire accessories such as a shoe dating back to 1776. Ephemera includes wedding announcements, invitations, marriage certificates and a wedding album.
A dress worn by Norma Mae Cassavant is accompanied by the maid of honor dress worn by her sister Katherine Louise Cassavant Dupuis, and suite worn by groom S. Sgt. Thomas Purdy.
Showing changing styles is a pair of dresses worn by a mother Lorraine Pontbriand, married to John Szydlik In 1944, and daughter Marilyn Szydlik, married to Leon Manning in 1970.
A single dress worn by three generations from 1872 to 1992 Illustrates not only changing styles, but how each bride made the same dress their own and of their time. The dress was originally worn by Mary Stuart Field in 1872, followed by her daughter Julia Pomeroy Averill in 1900, and lastly in 1992 by Averill Belknap, Mary Stuart Field’s granddaughter.
Melville family weddings are represented by a selection of objects including a jewelry box given to Sophia Eliza Thurston, wife of Herman’s brother Allan Melville, on their wedding day, September 22, 1847.
Sophia and Allan’s daughter Maria Gansevoort Melville married William Barlow Morewood on June 10, 1874, at the New York home of her uncle, Thomas. The exhibition includes their wedding invitation as well as silver dinnerware given the couple by the Morewood family.
This exhibition is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.