Farewell To Factory Towns

Maynard Seider will discuss his recent film “Farewell to Factory Towns”, chronically the history of work in North Adams, the impact of deindustrialization and how the city is trying to stand on its feet. Farewell to Factory...

Gay Archives Project

Bet Power, Director and Curator of the Sexual Minorities Archives, discusses  “LGBT Elders Speak Out”, an oral history project which records the stories of gay men and women from who lived in an era when there was far less...

JFK’s Legacy

Jim Madigan discusses the legacy of President John F. Kennedy with Western New England University History Professor John Baick as the 95th anniversary of JFK’s birth nears on Tuesday, May 29....

Women Ordinance Workers

Women Ordinance Workers filled the jobs of the men who left for wartime military service; 1000’s of women hammered steel and shaped wood into rifles at the Springfield Armory. Referred to as “WOW” these women played an integral role in the success of this...

Pearl Harbor Survivor

Robert Greenleaf is Westfield’s only living survivor of the  December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. A veteran of the US Navy, Greenleaf was just 19 years old when the attack happened.  He shared his memories of the event with producer Dave Fraser.    ...

The Civil War

In the next installment of  Connecting Point’s  “Saluting Service” series, Jim Madigan speaks with Wayne Phaneuf, Executive Editor of The Republican and local history buff, about the key roles Western Massachusetts residents played in the Civil...

The Notch Bunker

In 1957, the Strategic Air Command constructed a protective bunker to support the Combat Operational mission of the  Eighth Air Force Headquarters. Embedded in the Holyoke Mountain Range, this three-story hardened facility was capable of housing 350 personnel for a...

Presidents in the Berkshires

Washington may never have slept in the Berkshires, but a host of other Presidents have stopped by for a visit! Journalist and Folklorist Joe Durwin recounts several tales of the many historical Presidential visits the Berkshires have hosted over the...

Fenway Turns 100

Jim Madigan interviews Tom Shea, Republican columnist and former sports writer about covering baseball at 100 year old Fenway Park, the oldest major league stadium still in...

Easthampton AP U.S. History Students

Students in the AP U.S. History program at Easthampton High School recently won a prestigious opportunity to represent the state of Massachusetts in the national “We the People” competition in Washington, D.C. in April. The teens beat out several other schools to win...

Sojourner Truth Memorial

Steve Strimer, committee member of the Sojourner Truth Memorial, will take us through Sojourner Truth’s experience as a free slave, abolitionist and women’s right advocate in Florence, MA at David Ruggles Center for Early Florence History and Underground...

Them Bones

Fred Venne, Museum Educator at the Beneski Museum of Natural History at Amherst College will discuss this little-known but highly-regarded museum. Among its collection the largest fossil track collection in the world – many collected from this region — and one...