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April 26, 2008-June 1, 2008
What’s the Story?
Museums are more than repositories of objects—museums tell stories. From works of art depicting historical or mythological tales to personal items once connected to a real life to abstract images evoking one’s own imagination, the objects here all have tales to tell. From the carved tusk of a legendary elephant with Pittsfield connections to Victorian memorial embroidery to paintings by Norman Rockwell, the works of art, historical artifacts, and natural science specimens in this exhibition explore storytelling as an important way that people make sense of their world.

Sponsored by TD Banknorth Foundation.

May 9-12, 2008
Galleries in Bloom
The Berkshire Museum is pleased to collaborate with the Garden Club of America to present more than 40 beautiful floral arrangements inspired by art and artifacts throughout the Berkshire Museum.  Stunning arrangements by Garden Club of America professionals and talented Berkshire designers fill the galleries. All proceeds from Galleries in Bloombenefit year-round educational programming at the Berkshire Museum. Experience floral displays inspired by the diverse objects in What’s the Story (sponsored by TD Banknorth), American
paintings in America Seen, extraordinary Native American pieces
in Native Peoples: Northeast-Northwest, artifacts from Egypt and other ancient cultures, and the new Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation. Selected arrangements will complement the aquarium and natural science collections. Plus,see floral photography from a national judging workshop of the Garden Club of America.
Admission: $13 adults ($8 members); $9 children 3-18 ($5 members).

Sponsored by Cranwell Resort, Spa, and Golf Club

July 1, 2008-October 26, 2008
Look at Us
The Berkshire Museum showcases diverse collection of art from the 17th century to the present. Look at Us, on view July 1 through October 26, 2008, will feature approximately 40 paintings,
drawings, photographs, and prints, by artists ranging from Ammi
Phillips and Erastus Salisbury Field to John Singer Sargent and J.M. Whistler to Norman Rockwell, Grant Wood, and Red Grooms. Plus, a selection of portraits on loan from the Whitney Museum of American art will include works by Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, and others.

November 15, 2008-January 4, 2009
24th Annual Festival of Trees
200 decorated trees fill the galleries. Sponsored by Legacy Banks Foundation

January-April 2009
North Pole Centennial
The Berkshire Museum will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Robert Peary’s 1909 expedition to the North Pole with a special exhibition. The exhibition will examine the role of Matthew Henson, the African American explorer who accompanied Peary on five expeditions to the Arctic, including the successful 1909 trip. Peary and Henson together were the first people to reach the geographic location of the North Pole. Berkshire Museum founder Zenas Crane funded Peary’s expedition in part, and as a result Peary donated a significant group of sixteen objects from the expedition to the museum. The two most prized objects from this collection are one of five sledges to make the trek to the pole itself and Henson’s fur suit.  These exceptional objects are authenticated by hand-written correspondence between Crane and Peary and by letters from Henson to the Berkshire Museum.

Winter 2010
Osiris Perfecta: In Search of the Essential Mummy
An exhibition exploring the Western interest in Egyptian mummies as scientific objects and as sources of artistic inspiration. The exhibition explores the use of modern imaging technology in current mummy studies and presents the work of 21st-century forensic specialists in studying and reconstructing the appearance of members of the important ancient Egyptian community of Akhmim.