On Saturday, June 11th, the Great Barrington Historical Society will present a cocktail party, lecture, and tour of the beautiful AIER (American Institute of Economic Research) mansion at 250 Division Street in GB at 5:30pm.

Join us for cocktails and appetizers while you enjoy the breathtaking view from the terrace.

Featured at this event will be a tour of the Cotswold-style AIER stone mansion, built at the beginning of the Great Depression, as well as a literary lecture by author and English professor at Hofstra University, Paula Uruburu. The focus of her talk, based on her book American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the “It” Girl, and the Crime of the Century involves “the scandalous story of America’s first supermodel, sex goddess, and modern celebrity, Evelyn Nesbit.”

While Nesbit, one the most photographed women of her era is central to the book, Stanford White, Nesbit’s paramour and one of the founders of the renowned architectural firm, McKim, Mead & White, is of particular interest to the Berkshires. White designed a number of Gilded Age mansions here including Naumkeag, built in 1885 in Stockbridge, MA for the Choate family and owned today by the Trustees of Reservations.  White met his end when he was murdered in a New York City theater by Evelyn Nesbit’s jealous husband Harry K. Thaw.

Paula Uruburu has been widely published and has appeared on PBS’s History Detectives and American Experience. She has also worked as a consultant for the History Channel. The lecture is being co-sponsored by the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.

 Tickets are $25. They can be ordered in advance by calling 413-591-8702, emailing us at [email protected], or using the PayPal button below to order online. A limited number of tickets will also be sold at the door.

PLEASE NOTE: Each PayPal transaction allows a purchase of one $25 ticket only. (You’ll need to click the button again for each additional ticket).