From the Board of Berkshire Preservation Inc (BPI)

We are planning to produce and distribute to public and private schools, an educational unit on civics and local history. We estimate the cost at $150,000.

How will the work be done?

We have put together a team to create the elements of the unit – the book, videos, and teacher’s guide.

The writer is author of more than 12 books, winner of the Paul Tsongas Award for Preservation, The New England Newspaper and Press Association for best annual history article and outstanding journalism across six New England states. A five-time Emmy award winner will oversee the video production. A member of both BPI and the MCLA Board of Directors will oversee production of the teacher’s guide. Our local actors, with well-deserved national reputations, will bring the local history videos to life and articulate how Massachusetts moved the colonies and helped them become a nation.

For BPI, preservation is a verb. To preserve an historic building; to preserve our precious open land, farmland, and forests; to preserve life with support services including ambulances, BPI knows we have to roll up our sleeves and do the work. Now we want to preserve the education that we took for granted and that our children and grandchildren are living without.

The emphasis on our local history works in Massachusetts in a way it would not work in Ohio founded 1803 or Illinois founded 1816. Other states were founded long after the Declaration of Independence was written or the US Constitution was adopted. Massachusetts is where Paul Revere rode, the shot heard round the world was fired, and the Sheffield Resolves were written.

We know funds for education are being slashed and so are the programs they support. BPI wants to fill that gap with the educational unit: Making Magic.

We are a 501c3 nonprofit, your donations are tax deducible, and remember, we cannot do it without you.