‘Shades of Stockbridge’ will return to the Stockbridge Library

STOCKBRIDGE, MA – On Saturday, October 17, between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., the Stockbridge Library Historical Collection will host an event called ‘Shades of Stockbridge.’ During the evening, ‘spirits’ of Stockbridge past will roam around the library and mingle with visitors who may either eavesdrop or speak with them.

These spirits, or shades, represented by area residents, range from Ephraim Williams, one of the original founders of the town; Georgiana Allen, daughter of Harriet Beecher Stowe; Cyrus Field, who laid the transatlantic cable; Nathan Jackson, the founder of the Stockbridge Library and early Williams College benefactor; Catharine Sedgwick, one of the first female American authors to be recognized internationally; Mark Hopkins, President of Williams College, H. Augustus Lukeman, sculptor of Stone Mountain, GA and the Soldiers Monument in Pittsfield; Emily Tuckerman, an early summer resident; and others. They represent several eras, from 1700 to 1920, and they can talk about the era of the founding of Stockbridge until the early 1900’s. They will reminisce and also give their impressions, some favorable, some not, about Stockbridge today.

The Gentleman Burglar, a genuine Stockbridge character in the late 1800’s, sometimes shows up at these events as well.

The Victorian term ‘shade’ means spirit, explained Barbara Allen, curator of the Historical Collection. She sees the event as a fun way to learn local history, as well as being entertaining.

A $5 donation is requested. No reservation is required. For more information, call 298-5501.

WMRLS Library Stars!

For complete information, read "America's Star Libraries" by Ray Lyons & Keith Curry Lance
in Library Journal, 2/15/09

The Library Journal, in its February 15, 2009 issue, announced its first national awards based on a new process for rating libraries. And, we’re delighted to let everyone know that the Lenox and Stockbridge Library Associations earned three-star ratings! Congratulations on this recognition to these two fine Berkshire County libraries!

This assessment is based entirely on 4 per capita service output measures: visits, circulation, program attendance and public Internet computer use. The libraries were ranked and compared with peer libraries, but, in a departure from past rankings, the groupings are based on total operating expenditures and not population.

~ John Ramsay, Regional Administrator, Western Massachusetts Regional Library System

The Stockbridge Library News and Events

The Stockbridge Library News and Events

Roy Blount to appear in the Stockbridge Library's Winter Reads Series

For Immediate Release: Contact: 413-298-5501 STOCKBRIDGE, MASS.

Roy Blount, a local Western Massachusetts author, will speak at the Stockbridge Library on Sunday February 22 at 4pm. The discussion is part of the Winter Reads Series held on Sundays throughout the fall and winter. The author of 21 books, Roy Blount seems to have written in just about every form about most things, including the first woman president of the United States, football, and what barnyard animals are thinking. The most recent, Alphabet Juice, is the topic of this Stockbridge discussion. A contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly, he writes a regular column ("Gone Off Up North") for The Oxford American, and has done so in the past for Esquire , The New York Times, Atlanta Magazine , Inside Sports , The Soho News , Men's Journal, Conde Nast Traveller, The San Francisco Examiner, Spy, and The Atlanta Journal. His work has appeared in 174 books and many magazines and journals. His first book, about hanging out with the Pittsburgh Steelers, About Three Bricks Shy...And the Load Filled Up , was named one of the 10 best sports books ever, by Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post, and called, by Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker , "the best of all books about pro football." Norman Mailer said of his second book, Crackers, "Page for page, Roy Blount is as funny as anyone I've read in a long time," and Time placed Blount "in the tradition of the great curmudgeons like H.L. Mencken and W.C. Fields." Blount is also featured regularly as a panelist on the NPR news/comedy quiz show, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me . Winter Reads includes writers from the region, in the warm and friendly atmosphere of a casual literary salon. This year, Chauncey Loomis, Jim Shepard, and others have been part of the series. Each writer comes to talk about a specific book, play or story, and leads a discussion as well. Members of the public are invited to read the book and join the discussion, or simply come to listen and to enjoy refreshments and literary companionship. The series is free and open to the public, but space limited. For further information, or to confirm date and book titles, please call the Stockbridge Library at=20 413-298-5501.

Remaining Winter Reads Schedule:
(Discussions are scheduled for the third Sunday of the month at 4 p.m. unless otherwise noted):

March 15: Michelle Gillett, poet & Berkshire Eagle columnist, will discuss The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.

April 19: Peter Bergman, Executive Director of The Edna St. Vincent Millay Society, will discuss Millay poetry book to be announced.

July 29 - Mission House Book Talk in Stockbridge

Mission House Book Talk with Author Rachel Wheeler

Tuesday, July 29th from 6:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. in the Mission House gardens, 19 Main Street, Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Join The Trustees of Reservations and the Stockbridge Library to meet the author of a new book about the Stockbridge Mohicans. Author Rachel Wheeler documents the experience of two different communities of Mohican Indians who accepted Christian Missionaries in the mid 18th century. Both communities did so in hopes of surviving the changes brought on by Colonial settlement. In Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Mohicans invited the Congregational Church to send Reverend John Sergeant as the new community’s first missionary while the Shekomeko community in Duchess County, New York accepted the missionaries of the Moravian Church. Both missions had dramatically different results. Rachel Wheeler, in her meticulously researched book, “To Live Upon Hope: Mohicans and Missionaries in the Eighteenth Century Northeast,” explores the differences and every day life experiences of the two communities and their search to maintain their native traditions and morals while embracing the power and adaptation of the Christian colonial reality.



Join the author, Rachel Wheeler, in an evening talk and reception at the Mission House, home of the missionary to the Stockbridge Mohicans. The event will take place on Tuesday, July 29th, from 6:00 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. in the Mission House gardens, 19 Main Street, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The alternate location in case of rain will be the Stockbridge Library, 46 Main Street. The event is co-sponsored by The Trustees and The Stockbridge Library Historical Collection and is free to the public, but reservations are recommended. For more information call (413) 298-3239, ext 3000.

~ Barbara Allen Curator ballen@cwmars.org Stockbridge Library, Stockbridge

A Life Changing Visit to the Library

Listen to Pippin Ross' inspiring National Public Library Radio's Morning Edition August 10, 2004 broadcast titled "Playwright Reflects on 'The Miracle Worker" on how a visit to the Stockbridge Library Association changed playwright William Gibson's life.