Will include videos and podcasts

By Marie G. O’Neill 

Housatonic Heritage recently awarded a 2024 Heritage Partnership grant to Great Mountain Forest Corporation (GMF) to document oral histories of five individuals who have worked in the forest, including foresters Matt Gallagher, Russell Russ, Jody Bronson and Wayne Jenkins.

The project,
entitled “Work in the Working Forest,” will be submitted to the Housatonic Heritage Oral History Center at Berkshire Community College and the Connecticut State Archive. The Oral History Center is working with organizations to document work in our region for its “Oral History of Work” program.

Matt Gallagher, GMF’s director of programs and operations, says that “this grant will be used to assist us in documenting the fascinating history of the working forest through the lens of foresters who manage the forest and researchers who use the forest as a laboratory for their work. This project will help to educate the public about the conservation work that forestry professionals strive for to protect the natural resources and cultural heritage throughout the Housatonic Valley in the face of a changing climate. We hope to empower a younger cohort of future stewards through our stories in understanding the importance of the work in the forests of the Housatonic Valley.”

Mary G. O’Neill, former GMF director of communications and a podcaster and oral historian, approached GMF’s interim executive director, Heather Thomson, with the idea and shepherded the grant through the approval process. O’Neill will partner with GMF to record the archived oral histories and create podcasts based on the recordings which will be available on the GMF website.

The oral histories will also become the subject of several short videos created by returning GMF intern Caleb May, a University of Vermont junior pursuing a wildlife biology major with a minor in documentary storytelling. May’s participation in the project is funded through a grant from The Dr. Alice White Fund, administered by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. He will use the recordings as a backdrop to video footage, GMF archival photographs and recent photographs taken by GMF’s photographer-at-large, Tom Blagden.

The Oral History Center’s director, Judith Monachina, and Housatonic Heritage’s executive director, Dan Bolognani, will provide technical support for the project.