Herman Melville was a boy of fourteen when he first visited Pittsfield in the summer of 1833. That year he visited his his uncle Thomas at the farm later known as "Broadhall," which now is the Pittsfield Country Club. Several years later he returned to work on the farm, and in 1837 taught for a term in the Sikes district school here.

     In 1850 Melville purchased a property in Pittsfield and called it "Arrowhead" because of the objects which he found while tilling the soil there. Here, together with his burgeoning family, he spent thirteen of the most productive years of his life. Between 1850 and 1863 appeared not only his masterwork Moby Dick, but also the novels Pierre and The Confidence Man; several short stories including the five Piazza Tales, The Apple-Tree Table and I and My Chimney. During those years he also formed friendships with Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was living in Lenox, Massachusetts, Oliver Wendell Holmes, who lived up the road a ways, and other local literary figures.     Therefore, it is particularly fitting that an internationally recognized center for Melville research be located in The Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield's public library. It is the cornerstone of our Berkshire Authors Collection, housed in a separate but adjacent room.

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