Getting to Yes, Woman Suffrage in the Berkshires and Beyond

On the centennial of the passage of the 19^th Amendment to the US Constitution granting women the right to vote, the Berkshire Athenaeum displayed the exhibit “Getting to Yes” as part of the 10 x 10 Upstreet Arts Festival in February 2020. The aim was to look at how this corner of the country intersected with the larger suffrage effort.

Much like the woman suffrage movement, “Getting to Yes” is the result of a partnership that cut across different generations and different organizations, including the Berkshire County Historical Society and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the Berkshire Community College. Those photographs exhibited here that are not in the public domain came from the Local History Department of the Berkshire Athenaeum. We are grateful for the assistance of Miss Hall’s Horizons student, Ning (Wendy) Wang.

Early Signs

Laying the Foundation

Forging Alliances

Launching the Movement

A Divided Nation, a Divided Movement

In Focus: American Equal Rights Association

Persevering through Political Action

Facing the Opposition

Passing the Torch

In Focus: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

The Winning Plan

In Focus: Claiborne Catlin

New Roles and Goals

History Shock

Pleased to announce the publication of my book in May 2021 by the University Press of Kansas. This collection of “stories with a history” narrates incidents over the course of my career in the Foreign Service when historical understanding – or lack of it – got in the way in the conduct of day-to-day diplomacy.

Advance Orders for History Shock
Berkshire County’s Industrial Heritage

Check out this book on the nineteenth century mills and those who owned and worked in them. Available through Arcadia Press or Amazo n.
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Slide Show – Getting to Yes, Woman Suffrage in the Berkshires and Beyond
Slide Show – Intersections, Pittsfield’s Neighborhoods
Slide Show – Turning Points
Slide Show – Preserving the old Berkshire Athenaeum

Thomas Allen donated $50,000 to build the Athenaeum in 1876.

A yong architect from New York, William Appleton Potter, had his design selected for the new Athenaeum.

The original architectural drawing of the front elevation of the Athenaeum

An early photo of the High Victorian Gothic building, pointed arches, twin gables, multi-color stone patterns,skylight, stained glass windows

Majestic, quartered oak tresses in the addition built in 1896

Proposed new library design, in 1944

Bulging of stonework on from of building required drastic measures to shore up front, in 1979

A restored skylight is returned to the roof in repairs undertaken in 2001

Stained glass window on west gable, showing steel tie placed in 1979 stabilization repairs

Masonry work begins on the Athenaeum in the deep of winter

Removing the stained glass panels for repair

Cracks in the masonry

More cracks in the masonry

Lifting the capstone off the east gable, the first stone removedd
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