Using tongs, Jim Moran sticks a long, thin piece of wire into the small but very hot fire of the blacksmith’s forge.
When he removes the metal, the tip is white hot.
Norton Owen arrived at Jacob’s Pillow in the summer of 1976 as a student of dance. He left as a student of history.
“Jess Meeker was playing for our ballet class,” recalled Owen, the Pillow’s director of preservation. “I sat around with Jess and he told stories about playing for [Ted Shawn’s] Men Dancers. I was fascinated, especially by the thought that the stories took place right here. That is what sparked it for me. I was never really interested in dance history, but when you hear the personal stories and have direct personal contact with the storyteller. It was like a lightning bolt. I made the connection.” Posted on June 21, 2009.
Archivist Norton Owen arrived at Jacob's Pillow in 1976 as a dance student and has been there ever since. After serving as a part-time archivist for Jacob’s Pillow, he became director of preservation for the dance venue in 1990.
