For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Great Barrington Historical Commission Digitizes Catalog of Veteran’s Graves

GREAT BARRINGTON — In advance of Memorial Day celebrations and remembrances, Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin is pleased to announce that the Great Barrington Historical Commission now has the local Veteran’s Graves Book digitized for ease of access, and members of local Veterans of Foreign Wars posts will be present to view the database next week.

WHO:

• Great Barrington Veteran’s Graves Officer Andy Moro
• Members of local Veterans of Foreign Wars posts

WHEN:

Monday, May 15 at 10 a.m.

WHERE:

Mason Library, 231 Main St.

WHAT:

The Veteran’s Grave Book is a project that was compiled by the Works Progress Administration during the 1930s. It includes details about veterans’ graves in all of Great Barrington’s town cemeteries, including veterans from the Revolutionary War through 1938. There are illustrations of each gravestone and a locator map for each grave. Additionally, Civil War veterans who are buried in Great Barrington are also listed in the volume.

Following several months of research, study and discussion, the Great Barrington Historical Commision hired Chicago Albumen Works of Housatonic to scan each page of the book and convert those pages to searchable PDF files. Now the entire book, which weighs more than four pounds, is viewable and searchable by keyword or name in an online database.

The digital files are located at the Mason Library in Great Barrington, as well as the Berkshire Athenaeum Public Library in Pittsfield.

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