Berkshire Life Insurance Company's Building. was to secure a uniform practice throughout the State, and to cause a degree of confidence in the diplomas. The arrangement continued fifteen years. The tuition fee was fixed at forty dollars, and board, room-rent and lodging at one dollar and seventy-five cents a week. In 1825 it became necessary to defray incidental expenses, and pay the salaries of instructors out of the proceeds from tuition fees. These were frequently paid in notes, many of which read "when said student shall be able to pay," and having been distributed among the members of the faculty, a large number were found afterwards in the deserted office of the Dean. In 1867 the compensation of each instructor was about one hundred and thirty dollars, hardly enough to attract young, inexperienced physicians. Therefore, the college came to an end, having graduated in the course of forty-four years over one thousand doctors of medicine, who held rank in their profession equal to that of those sent out by any college in the country.       The Public Library Association was founded in 1850, with a regulation excluding forever all prose works of fiction, and on the other hand, theological writings, unless admitted by a unanimous vote of the Directors. After a few prosperous years public interest had so far died out that the library consisted of a few books and a small room, open one evening in the week by the dim light of a lantern. A timely donation, and a liberal construction of the rule regarding works of fiction, had a favorable effect.       A Young Men's Association was organized in 1865, with a library, reading-room, collection of curiosities, and provision for amusement and exercise. It had a very successul [sic] career for about eight years. Meanwhile the Library Association, its name having been changed to the Berkshire Athemeum, was put on a better footing by the liberality and efforts of Thomas F. Plunkett, who afterwards, together with Calvin Martin and Thomas Allen, was instrumental in forming it into a free library. In 1874, by means of a bequest from Phinehas Allen, and the gift of its present building from Thomas Allen, the Berkshire Athenĉum was placed upon a firm foundation. For the past eleven years it has been under the efficient management of Mr. E. C. Hubbel, Curator and Librarian. To-day it contains 16,000 volumes, and with an average annual circulation of 50,000; less than ten volumes have been lost.       The history of the public schools is in no important respect different from that in hundreds of other towns. They were first carefully graded in 1874, and -- page 11 -- Previous Page | Next Page | Town of Pittsfield Page | Berkshire County Western MA History & Genealogy

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