Accounting for the Survival of the Berkshire Athenaeum
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses August 2014 Against The Odds: Accounting For The Survival Of The Berkshire Athenaeum JOHN DICKSON University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation DICKSON, JOHN, "Against The Odds: Accounting For The Survival Of The Berkshire Athenaeum" (2014). Masters Theses. 12. https://doi.org/10.7275/5562347 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/12 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Against the Odds: Accounting for the Survival of the Berkshire Athenaeum A Thesis Presented by JOHN S. DICKSON Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2014 Department of History © Copyright by John S. Dickson 2014 All Rights Reserved Against the Odds: Accounting for the Survival of the Berkshire Athenaeum A Thesis Presented by JOHN S. DICKSON Approved as to style and content by: _________________________________________ Mark T. Hamin, Chair _________________________________________ Marla R. Miller, Member _________________________________________ David H. Glassberg, Member ______________________________________ Joye L. Bowman, Department Head History DEDICATION To Mary, my partner in all. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As with much in life, the idea for this study of the old Berkshire Athenaeum came about rather haphazardly, and fortuitously. Bill Gillen, the architect hired for the current preservation of the building, sensed the need to document the project, probably as a community outreach exercise, to inform residents of Pittsfield about the extensive undertaking to protect an important piece of the city’s built cultural heritage. His e-mail exchanges with Will Garrison, the Chair of the Pittsfield Historical Commission, and with the members of the commission were copied to me. As I had already been at the time working with Will as an intern at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead, I considered the notion and volunteered. The idea to document the project as a thesis came with the support of Marla Miller and Max Page, professors at the University of Massachusetts and program directors of the UMass-Hancock Shaker Village Historic Preservation Program. Max Page allowed me to audit his introduction to historic preservation course, which gave me an underpinning into the history and issues of preservation. Mark Hamin, Professor in the Landscape and Regional Planning Department agreed to serve as my thesis advisor and has been throughout an astute, supportive and tolerant counselor. Marla Miller and David Glassberg have been instrumental in guiding me through the public history program, as well as willing members of the thesis committee. The opportunity to sit in every week since last September on the construction status meetings continues to afford me, a layperson, unusual access to a highly complex project, one that the contractor has labeled “an extreme project.” All, around the table – v Bill Gillen, John Krifka, Mike Mucci, David Fang, Heidi Germanowski, Jude Clary, Ron Salice, Mike Slowinski, Pat Walsh, Phil Godin and Frank Clare – have extended the courtesies of time they don’t have to allow me to observe and film and ask questions. Chuck Woodard and David Guarducci opened up their stained glass studio to provide a front-row view on their artistry. Finally, the support of the local history library section at the Berkshire Athenaeum, under the leadership of Kathleen Reilly, has been indispensable to the research. In addition, Ryan Cowdrey and Norm Schaffer at Pittsfield Community Television have been generous with their time and expertise in introducing me to the world of video production and editing. With their help, this study will continue, as a video documentary to show the preservation of the Athenaeum to its completion. vi ABSTRACT AGAINST THE ODDS: ACCOUNTING FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE BERKSHIRE ATHENAEUM MAY 2014 JOHN S. DICKSON, B.A., PRINCETON UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST DIRECTED BY: PROFESSOR MARK T. HAMIN Comparative approaches in historic preservation usually involve two or more different buildings. The old Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts allows for a comparative approach with the same building, but in two different eras: one where the clamor to replace the library building came close to resulting in its destruction (1960s); the other, 35 years later, where the question of the building’s survival was never in doubt, never even raised (2000s). From its earliest days, serious design and workmanship flaws have plagued the structural integrity of the monumental Victorian Gothic building that stands in the center of Pittsfield. Its grand space proved inadequate for the functioning of a public library. Yet it continues to survive, and in 2014, another major preservation project is underway to address the bulging of the masonry on the front façade. A narrative of the history of this building reveals broader trends in public attitudes towards the preservation of our cultural heritage, and insights into the contributing elements that provide justification for preservation as well as into the role of the public historian in connecting preservation with the community. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1. LAYING THE GROUNDWORK ...........................................................................1 Framing the Research - Key Questions ...................................................................5 Goals and Objectives ...............................................................................................6 Outcomes and Benefits ............................................................................................7 Focus on the Narrative .............................................................................................8 Research Methodology ..........................................................................................10 Definitions and Ambiguities in Historic Preservation ...........................................11 2. WHY AND HOW TO PRESERVE - LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................14 History of Historic Preservation - The Influence of Charles Hosmer ...................15 The Roles and Tensions of Government in Historic Preservation .........................19 The Economics of Preservation .............................................................................26 Social Identity - Displacement, Attachment and Memory .....................................28 Preservation as a Tool for Community Building ...................................................32 Why Preserve - Future in the Past..........................................................................36 3 IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK .....................................................................39 The Benefactor and the Architect - Origins of the Athenaeum .............................39 Growing Pains - The Athenaeum from 1876 to 1945 ............................................48 Barely Standing - The Post-War Years ..................................................................63 Endgame - From Library to Courthouse ............................................................... 74 4. CONNECTING TO THE PRESENT ....................................................................92 Rebranding Industrial Pittsfield as a Cultural Mecca ............................................92 Coordinating the Complexity of Preservation .....................................................102 5. INTERPRETING THE ATHENAEUM ..............................................................117 viii Function ...............................................................................................................118 Structure and Design ............................................................................................119 Changing Climates - Internal and External ..........................................................123 Preservation Influences ........................................................................................126 State Ownership ...................................................................................................127 The Role of the Community ................................................................................129 Memory and Attachment to Place ........................................................................131 Preliminary Recommendations ............................................................................133 6. A PROVISIONAL EPILOGUE ..........................................................................137 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................140