Resources & Collections

Resources and Collections

There are many resources available at the Local History & Genealogy Department at Berkshire Athenaeum. BFHA uses these resources to aid in research and helps provide funds to support the growth of these collections. Collections are available to all visitors to the Local History & Genealogy Department.

BFHA offers a number of publications that include Berkshire Family Historian, our Member newsletter, BFHA’s out-of-print Berkshire Genealogist quarterly, and a growing list of special genealogical research material. Some publications are available for purchase as an exclusive benefit to BFHA Members.

Resources include the following Collections.

Knurow Collection

Physical Collection

Edward F. Knurow created over 100 scrapbooks of genealogical and historical material while working as a Conservation Officer and Game Warden in Berkshire County. His scrapbooks contain a wealth of information, such as maps, foundation research, genealogies, military information, charts, as well as other pertinent information for historical and genealogical research. All scrapbooks have been indexed and digitized and are available at the Local History & Genealogy Department at Berkshire Athenaeum.

Shepard Collection

Physical Collection

Elmer I. Shepard, a math professor at Williams College, devoted many years documenting the lives of early families of Berkshire County. His findings are meticulously recorded on over 50,000 index cards filed by location and family and housed in 41 drawers. Shepard provides sources for most of his data, allowing the researcher to verify or expand upon this work.

Cooke Collection

Physical Collection

Rollin H. Cooke was a Pittsfield banker and collector, as well as transcriber, of genealogical records. These records come from newspaper sources, town records, church records, and genealogical records. The collection consists of 66 volumes, all of which are indexed.

The Berkshire Collection

Physical Collection

The Berkshire Collection was created by the local history staff at Berkshire Athenaeum to help patrons find cemetery and historical information. It consists of mainly cemetery and gravesite information, along with some church records. There are currently 98 volumes, but this number continues to grow.

The Clark W. Nicholls Collection

Online Collection

Longtime BFHA member Clark W. Nicholls has spent many years collecting information about Pittsfield and surrounding locations. He is allowing his work to be added to this website so that others may benefit from it. He is actively archiving his work to ensure that it will not be lost. (There will be some duplication of information as the archiving continues.)  Included are Pittsfield and Berkshire County Directories,, High School Yearbooks and Publications, Pittsfield Annual Reports, Various Historical Publications of Pittsfield and the Berkshires, and much more.  A postcard collection by the late Judy Rupinski is also included. 

Berkshire Family History Associations Indexes

Online Collection

This Master Index, created by Berkshire Family History Association, consists of indexes to over 1500 books in Berkshire Athenaeum’s collection and the entire collection of the out-of-print Berkshire Genealogist quarterly. It allows the user to enter in a name with result indicating the books and associated page numbers that name appears in, making this a powerful tool for the researcher to search across many of the books in the Library. This unique resource, previously available only at the library, has recently been made accessible to everyone. It can be accessed through BFHA's website berkshirefamilyhistory.org and through the Berkshire Athenaeum's site pittsfieldlibrary.org