The Berkshire County Historical Society and The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College will present Poor in the Berkshires: Poverty and Public Relief Before 1935, a lecture by Cynthia Farr Brown. The lecture will take place in the Susan B. Anthony Center, room G-12 on the BCC campus, or via zoom. What happened two centuries ago when people had no food, no housing, or no fuel? Where did people go for support? How did they understand poverty? What did law and custom prescribe? What changed over time – and how quickly or slowly? This talk will examine being poor in the Berkshires, from the mid-18th century when Europeans settled in the region, until the depths of the Great Depression. Using primary records, newspaper accounts, and more, we can learn about who was among the poor and how communities both supported and at times chose not to support those in need.