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The original Berkshire Athenaeum, now known as the Bowes Building, is a nineteenth century building that still stands on Park Square in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in the Berkshires. Like many New England libraries, the Berkshire Athenaeum started as a private organization. The private Public Library Association was founded in 1850. The group's name was later changed to the Berkshire Athenæum. Later still, Thomas F. Plunkett, Calvin Martin and Thomas Allen, were "instrumental in forming it into a free library".
The Berkshire Athenaeum is now also known as the Pittsfield Public Library at 1 Wendell Avenue in Pittsfield, containing a collection of more than 150,000 items. The library's special collections on local history, genealogy, author Herman Melville and other local authors are some of the best in the northeast.