The obituaries section besides being the collection of death announcements is rather the combined history and calendar of the Berkshire County, MA residents. It due to this tradition of well-written obituaries of the local residents that the lives of those in this historically ripe New England locale continue to be celebrated.
Historical Significance
The Berkshire Eagle was established in 1892 and has otherwise remained the main newspaper of the Berkshire region of Western Mass for over a century. Today’s publication, formerly merely death notices have now developed to complex dailies that are now almost encyclopedias of these local lives and contributions to the community.
Anatomy of a Berkshire Eagle Obituary
The present-day obits in the Berkshire Eagle like most other papers are highly formatted but still incorporate aspects of individuality which defines the deceased. These notices usually contain basic personal details, relationships, professional accomplishments and service to society.
But where they shine is in their local focus and their efforts to make explicit connections to the broader Berkshire environment. Many of the notices draw connections to places that were important in the person’s lives.
It is common to see Pittsfield as a city once dominated by General Electric, ties to Tanglewood or Mass MoCA. For this reason, the local context allows readers to appreciate how people in drivers’ seat used their effort in pulling the fabric of Berkshire County together.
Digital Access and Archives
Through the obituary section of the Berkshire Eagle newspaper, families are allowed to publish obituaries online through the newspaper’s website. It also makes it possible for families to share their loved ones’ stories beyond those family members and for genealogists, historians, and family members.
Conservation of Culture and Heritage
From an historical point of view, the obituary section became a unique mark of the regional history, providing the readers with a bulk of necessary data about local families, businesses and other institutions which could have been otherwise inaccessible to traditional historical research.
For these reasons, scholars and historians often use these archives to study different patterns of social relationships, family ties, and tendencies in the community’s evolution in the course of the Berkshires’ historical development.
Future Considerations
With the shift in media consumption, Berkshire Eagle now offers its obituary services in fashion that matches needs of the community. There is proper formality felt in and around death messages while at the same time the publication adapts to modern methods of passing on these messages to generations to come.
The Berkshire Eagle obituaries are not limited to an announcement of passing events; they become an integral part of that region’s history that connects the community of the past with the present, thus helping to sustain that community spirit that is especially evident in the Berkshire region.
Each of these custom obituaries painted the picture of an individual and when one looks at the list of obituaries, they depict the history of a community and the memories of relations that may be useful to those of the future generations to see and cherish.
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