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By Abigail Moncus, West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection Project Archivist 

In the National Organization for Women, West Virginia and Morgantown Chapters Records, a wide range of materials document the activities and functions of NOW in West Virginia. Most relate to the internal functions of the various chapters and their productive outputs, including meeting minutes, newsletters and various ephemera. However, the collection also contains occasional instances of material created by other organizations operating in the Morgantown area, such as a pamphlet created by the local Socialist Workers Party expressing support for coal miner Marian Bustin, who was facing deportation for her socialist activities.  

While living in Morgantown, West Virginia, and working in Republic Steel Kitt No. 1 Mine, Bustin came to the attention of authorities in late 1980 when the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attempted to deport her for her membership in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and Young Socialist Alliance (YSA).  

Marian Bustin, born Marian Margaret Carr to a working-class family in Scotland in 1954, was active in social activism from an early age. She reported participating in Glasgow’s Women in Action and Indo-China Committee, as well as England’s International Marxist Group.¹ 

While visiting the United States from June 1974 to January 1975, Bustin (then Blackburn, after her first husband) maintained membership with the Lower Manhattan Branch of the Socialist Workers Party in New York and reportedlyattended “six SWP-related meetings.”² 

After returning to Scotland, she married American citizen Andrew Bustin and moved permanently to the United States, first to New York, and later to Morgantown, West Virginia, following her separation from her second husband. Unbeknownst to Marian Bustin, at the time of her residential move to the U.S. in 1977, the U.S. embassy in London reported her as a socialist to the INS, leading the New York INS office to open an investigation. 

This investigation followed her to Morgantown, where the INS coordinated with the Pittsburgh FBI and West Virginia State Police for any updates on her case. In early 1979, she became aware of this investigation when INS inspector Godfrey England reported to her that her “permanent resident status was in danger due to reports that she had attended meetings of the SWP in 1974 and 1975.”³  

Her case gained public attention in 1980 after lawyers of the SWP and YSA obtained her INS and FBI files while working on a lawsuit against the U.S. government. At the time, she was a member of United Mine Workers Local 2095 and active with the Morgantown chapter of the Coalition Against Registration and the Draft. 

Bustin’s case was quickly taken on by the Morgantown SWP and YSA. On Oct. 31, 1980, Bustin made her first appearance in a press conference alongside Tom Moriarty, the 1980 Socialist Workers candidate for West Virginia governor, criticizing the government campaign against her, which aired on WCHS, WCAW radio, and WCHS-TV.⁴ 

A campaign was also launched in her defense. The first rally took place Nov. 11, 1980, at the former Pathfinder Bookstore at 957 University Ave. in Morgantown. Speakers included Bustin and Moriarty, along with Larry Seigle, a national committee member of the Socialist Workers Party, and Hector Marroquin, a fellow party member also facing deportation threats. 

Another rally was held Feb. 28, 1981. Speakers included Bustin, YSA secretary Katherine Crowder, civil rights attorney Franklin Cleckley, Morgantown attorney Robert Bastress, Sandinista National Liberation Front member Carlos Sanchez, and Morgantown ACLU director Trudy Herod.  

The pamphlet mentioned earlier in this article likely entered the NOW records after Bustin attended a Morgantown NOW meeting to promote this 1981 rally. Misidentified as “Maureen Buston,” she spoke at this meeting, but NOW members did not take action on sending a speaker to the rally.  

In April 1981, Bustin and Marroquin testified about the deportation threats in the Socialist Workers Party v. Attorney General of the United States.⁵ After several years, the SWP was awarded $264,000 in damages relating to disruptive activities, surreptitious entries, and the use of informants.⁶ 

In the months following public exposure of her case, Bustin traveled as a speaker for the Political Rights Defund Fund, visiting Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and southern West Virginia. As attention on her case died down, she presumably returned to her normal activities.  

In the following years, she continued her socialist activitism, writing several articles for The Militant, including “District 17 miners rally to protest nonunion coal” (May 29, 1981), “Miners speak about safety cuts” (March 26, 1982), “Toledo abortion clinic bombed” (July 13, 1986), and “Toledo rally protests abortion-clinic bombing” (July 18, 1986). 

Tracing Bustin’s life after the 1980s is difficult due to her limited public presence. However, available evidence suggests she relocated to Ohio before 1986, and later to Iowa around 1988, based on occasional references in The Militant. She appears to have continued a career working in various labor jobs.  

The lack of reporting on her case suggests she was never deported. 

Materials regarding Marian Bustin and other related activities can be found in the National Organization for Women Records at the West Virginia and Regional History Center.  

This project is made possible with support from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission. 

References: 

1. Vivian Sahner, “The story of Marian Bustin,” The Militant 44, No. 42 (1980): 12.  

2. Investigative Summary, 1974, Box 2, Folder 57, National Organization for Women, West Virginia and Morgantown Chapter, Records, A&M 3247, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia. 

3. Vivian Sahner, “Gov’t threatens to deport socialist miner,” The Militant 44, No. 39 (1980): 6.  

4. “Radio, TV cover Bustin case,” The Militant 44, No. 42 (1980): 12. 

5. Vivian Sahner, “Trail witnesses to document gov’t harassment,” The Militant 45, No. 12 (1981): 3. 

6. Socialist Workers Party v. Attorney General of the United States, 642 F.Supp. 1357 (S.D.N.Y.1986). 

By Samatha Wade, WVRHC Graduate Assistant 

In trying to promote pieces of the West Virginia & Regional History Center’s collections, I began curating staff favorites to share. Part 1 of staff favorites included some of the staff’s responses and only a small portion of the WVRHC’s collections. The following is a continuation of histories from the WVRHC’s collections.

Deakins Surveying Compass – Catherine Rakowski, Research & Exhibition Specialist

The WVRHC has an eighteenth-century surveying compass used by Francis Deakins to survey the “Deakins Line,” a north-south line separating eastern Maryland from (West) Virginia in 1787-88.

Colonists began moving westward soon after their arrival on the east coast of North America. With this came boundary disputes between colonies and later states. To clearly define the boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia, two surveyors were employed to find and mark this boundary. The result was the Mason-Dixon Line, named after the surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. Even then, the issue was not completely resolved because Maryland’s boundary was also being disputed.

Francis Deakin was employed to survey the western boundary of Maryland. Unfortunately, it would later be determined that the Deakins line was inaccurate. Maryland’s western borders continued to be an issue with West Virginia after the Civil War and into the early 1900s. The Deakins Family Papers and Surveying Compass collection (A&M 0197) includes deeds, agreements, surveys, plats, surveyors’ field books, court papers, and letters that document the activities of Francis Deakins and his brother William.

Stick from the stretcher used to carry Stonewall Jackson – Jane LaBarbara, Head of Archives and Manuscripts

Another piece in WVRHC’s collections is a stick from the stretcher that was used to carry Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, a Confederate general, when he was mortally wounded by his own men in 1863 (A&M 1561).

Jackson had taken a group of men to scout out a wooded area when they were mistaken as the enemy by a North Carolina regiment. The regiment opened fire, and Jackson was shot in an area around his left shoulder. He was carried from the field to a nearby plantation where he had his arm amputated. While recovering, Jackson came down with pneumonia and died on May 10, 1863. The stick is part of the Roy Bird Cook Collection (A&M 1561).

Cook was a pharmacist and local historian with a great interest in the Civil War. His collection includes correspondence and other materials relating to Jackson.

The Metropolitan Theatre, Morgantown, Records Cat Melillo, Archives Processing Assistant

The Metropolitan Theatre, Morgantown, Records (A&M 3254) contains ninety years of records documenting the history of the Metropolitan Theatre and other respected local arts institutions, including the Strand Theatre, Morgan Theatre, Morgantown Theatre Company, Morgantown Amusement Company, and the Westover Drive-In. Maybe the most interesting items from this collection are the early 20th century stage manager logbooks containing lists of which touring vaudeville acts performed there on each date. The titles and descriptions of the acts become less vaudeville and more burlesque sounding into the 1920s.

In the last Staff Favorites blog, one of the histories shared was about Russell L. Long, who had an interest and involvement in local vaudeville acts. He even got his start at the Dixy Theatre in Morgantown on High Street. The Dixy Theater seems to have been where Reiner & Core was located in the 1960s and what is now Almost Heaven Bar and Grill. The collection also has cool movie posters, such as one for a musical comedy Duck Soup from 1933, and 1970s 3-D glasses!

By Samatha Wade, WVRHC Graduate Assistant

The West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) holds many interesting artifacts and manuscripts within its collections. I tried finding interesting items myself, but because the collection is so large, it proved overwhelming. Instead, I turned to staff members here at the WVRHC who work with the collections every day in different ways and asked them to share their favorite item. The following histories are the result.

“Impersonator Russell L. Long, High Street, Morgantown, W. Va”- Lemley Mullett, Digital Collections Archivist

Census records for Morgantown documented Russell L. Long’s birthplace in Pennsylvania, 1889. By 1915, Long was living in Morgantown working as a glass worker. He was also a local impersonator.

A photo taken in 1918 during a Labor Day Parade shows Long dressed as Charlie Chaplin. It’s on this photo Long wrote his “first impersonating of Chaplin was with the Dixy Theater on Hight Street.”

Lemley chose to show the photo below, where he was dressed as Charlie Chaplin on stilts. This photo is dated 1933, standing outside Oppenheimer’s Kuppenheimer Good Clothes store, a popular brand in the 1920s. Long wrote, “My construction of my stilt and the foot pivot is my own invention and makes it possible for me to move with comparative ease being a mechanical tall-man the hours I perform on them.” Long was on these stilts for 3-4 hours. In 1948, Russell L. Long portrayed Charlie Chaplin in the Morgantown Labor Day parade.

In 1967 he “donned the garb of the Revolutionary period and paraded the city streets” in honor of George Washington’s birthday sale sponsored in Morgantown. Long died in Morgantown, 1972.

Pickaxe and Auger – Bridget Jamison, Instruction and Public Services Archivist

Coal miners are a prominent part of West Virginia history, and the WVRHC houses numerous collections relating to coal mines, mining, and coal miners. The J. Davitt McAteer Papers regarding Mining Safety collection includes mining tools. Among them is an auger and pickaxe.

Coal mining in West Virginia can be recorded as early as 1810 at a mine near Wheeling. The industry grew with the introduction of railroads. In 1940, West Virginia reached peak employment in mines. In this same decade, auger mining, a surface mining method, was introduced.

Handheld augers, like the one shown above, are used to drill into a coal seam and extract coal on the screw bit. Before this, however, pickaxes were the most common tool used in mining to break up and excavate coal. While modern machinery and legislation have advanced mining, the mining profession remains dangerous.

A collection of English proverbs, digested into a convenient method for the speedy finding any one upon occasion, John Ray,1678 – Rigby Philips, Rare Book & Print Collections Archivist

The book features English proverbs like “Be not a baker if your head be of butter” and “It’s easie to bowl downhill.” These are only a sample of the funny lines found in the book. John Ray, educated at the University of Cambridge, was a Fellow of the Royal Society and known for his work in botany, zoology, and natural theology. The copy in the WVRHC’s collection is a memorial gift from the library of Stephen Fuller Crocker. Crocker was a professor of English at WVU from 1931 to 1963, and a native West Virginian born in Wheeling, 1898. He passed not long after he retired in 1969.

By Olivia Howard, WVRHC Reference Assistant

Georgeann Wells, an iconic figure in West Virginia University women’s basketball, made history on December 21, 1984, when she became the first American woman to register a dunk in an official NCAA intercollegiate basketball game.

Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Wells played on her high school basketball team at Columbus Northland. She began her freshman year at WVU in 1982 and immediately made an impact on the basketball court. Standing at 6’7” and averaging 11.9 points per game, she showed promise as a skilled player. Yet, Wells had a personal goal that set her apart from her peers- she wanted to be the first woman to dunk in a regulation NCAA game. To achieve this, Wells dedicated herself to perfecting her dunking technique, working tirelessly with her coaches after each practice.

Playing against the University of Charleston at the Elkins Randolph County Armory, Wells received a pass from point guard Lisa Ribble, and with 11:18 remaining in the game, she dunked the ball into the basket. WVU went on to win the game 110–82, cementing Wells’s place in basketball history.

The accomplishment was widely recognized and covered by major media outlets such as The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today. Wells’s dunk was so significant that the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame created a dedicated exhibit for her achievement. She was also honored at an NCAA luncheon in New York.

Beyond her iconic dunk, Wells’s career at WVU was filled with accomplishments. Over her four years at the university, she scored 1,484 points, grabbed 1,075 rebounds, and set an all-time school record with 436 blocked shots.

Wells was also recognized with several honors, including being named to the Third Team, All-American in 1985, Freshman All-American in 1983, and First Team, All-Atlantic 10 in 1985 and 1986.

After her college career, Wells continued to leave her mark on the basketball world. She toured with the Harlem Globetrotters, showcasing her skills on an international stage. She also became a coach, working professionally in Japan from 1986 to 1992, and later in Spain, Italy, and France from 1992 to 2003. Wells graduated from Huntington University in 2003 with a degree in elementary and physical education. Most recently, she has worked as a physical education teacher in a suburb of her hometown, Columbus, Ohio and was named an inaugural member of WVU’s Mountaineer Legends Society in 2017.

Her dunk, a moment that captured the imagination of fans and sports media alike, was a defining event in women’s basketball, and her legacy continues to inspire athletes today. Wells’ accomplishments are a testament to her incredible skill, resilience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of what was possible for women in sports.

You can check out more images of WVU Women’s Basketball in the West Virginia & Regional History Center’s collection of WVU’s student yearbooks.

by Olivia Howard, WVRHC Reference Assistant

The first West Virginia University women’s basketball team began its first season in 1973. The team members were Suzie LeFever, Lynn Buckley, Lisa Weisenstein, Sara Roberts, Cheryl Puskarich, Beth Shank, Carolyn Huffman, Cindy “Sam” Booth, Michelle Jaccar, Jo Salisbury, Pam Harper, Leslie Sergy, Celeste Knaus, and Jo Nutter.

The team was the result of Title IX mandates. Title IX is a landmark U.S. federal civil rights law enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX ensures that students, regardless of their gender, have equal access to educational opportunities, including sports, academic programs, and extracurricular activities. Through its enforcement, Title IX has played a crucial role in fostering a more equitable educational environment, promoting fairness, and breaking down barriers for women and marginalized groups in education and athletics.

During their first season, the team played 10 local games scheduled by first head coach Kittie Blakemore and participated in the West Virginia State Tournament for 14 games. Blakemore would remain as head coach for 19 seasons, leading the team to a conference tournament championship in the A10 in 1989, and a first-place finish in the regular season in her final season, 1992.

Though the team only won four of those first games and placed fourth in the State Tournament, they came back stronger the next season, winning 13 of their 17 games.

Kittie Blakemore is most notable for spearheading the formation of what would later become the Women’s Athletics program at WVU, alongside Dr. Wincie Ann Carruth. A highlight of the collection is the original, “Proposal for an Intercollegiate Athletic Program for Women,” at WVU from 1972. You can learn more about the first head coach of the WVU Women’s Basketball team and West Virginia University women’s athletics trailblazer, Kittie Blakemore, by viewing the Kittie Blakemore Papers (A&M 5274) at the West Virgina & Regional History Center.

By Samantha Wade, WVRHC Graduate Assistant

During the hurricane season of 1985, a tropical cyclone called Hurricane Juan moved along the coast of Louisiana and Florida before moving north. Spawning from Hurricane Juan, another storm system brought more rain. The already saturated soil could not absorb more water when the storm stalled over areas of West Virginia.

In late October of 1985, these storms resulted in extreme flooding in West Virginia, as most of the state’s urban areas are along flood plains. River gauge stations recorded 100-year flood events along the Potomac and Monongahela river basins and the 4th and 5th flood plains saw flash flooding, washing away topsoil and trees. Soon, over 13,000 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. In some towns, flooding rose to the second story of buildings.

In Weston, the incomplete Stonewall Jackson Dam spared a large amount of flooding other towns saw. Reports came in that the dam had broken, and residents began preparing for the worst. Thankfully, the dam hadn’t broken. While the town still sustained damage from the floods, the dam helped reduce it. It’s estimated the flooding resulted in $700 million in damage and 38 deaths across the state.

Out of the 55 counties in West Virginia, President Ronald Reagan declared 29 disaster areas. Boil-water advisories were put out, and several of these areas had no access to clean water. In what are now known as the “Election Day Floods” or “Killer Floods,” several rivers reached 10 to 15 feet above the flood stage.

Meanwhile, Rowlesburg, Glenville, Marlinton, were some of the towns hit the hardest, and Pendelton and Grant counties saw the largest loss of life. In total, rising water and mudslides blocked 800 roads and bridges and isolated communities.

In response, WVU mobilized resources and the Office of Institutional Advance worked to provide relief. The University gave employees notice of the ability to take time off to volunteer November 11-15 and at least 16 full- and part-time staff and faculty from WVU Libraries volunteered to provide flood relief. During this disaster, there was a clear sense of community, as people rallied to help in any way they could.

After the flooding, several features were implemented to mitigate future flooding, including levees, river monitoring, and more communication towers. 40 years later, flooding like that of the 1985 Floods has not occurred again in West Virginia. People still remember the floods as one of the state’s most tragic events, but they also remember how people came from all over the state to help one another. That kind of support is not easily forgotten

By Samantha Ryder, WVRHC Graduate Assistant

When I first started working at the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC) in September 2023, I noticed a picture hanging on the wall next to the staff offices. As I worked longer and longer, my fascination with the picture grew. It depicts three people in what is said to be mining safety equipment. But it honestly has quite an eerie look.

The only information I knew going into this research was that it was taken in front of Mechanical Hall around 1912 – 1913. After looking at the WVRHC’s collections, I found that this picture was originally in the 1976 bicentennial collection. There are also additional versions of this image; one is a digitized version on WV OnView and the facsimile on the wall of the WVRHC.

The Bicentennial Collection includes various other original photographs of WVU buildings and students. The Bicentennial Collection is a smaller part of a larger collection, A&M 5188, that contains various other WVU themed original photographs throughout the history of the University. Visitors can look at turn of the century images of WVU students, classrooms, and other buildings around campus! Visitors can look at original images of the WVU horticulture building, science labs and stations, and pictures of WVU’s grounds from the 1890s.

When I looked closely at the picture, I found that ‘Draeger’ was printed on the equipment.  After doing some research, I found a German company and their website states they were founded in 1889 by Johann Henrich Dräger. In the early 20th century, the Draeger company went to the St. Louis World’s Fair to exhibit their new company. Furthermore, the company explained their early involvement in the creating and distributing of mining safety equipment and the prevalence of Draegermen, a term commonly used in North America. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Draegerman as “one of a crew trained for underground rescue work.” The Draeger company explained further how Draegermen reached a point of such great notoriety that they were featured in a Superman comic. There was also a movie called Draegerman Courage that was released in 1937 by Warner Brothers. A special edition of Theatre News describes the story of a group of Draegermen who are tasked with rescuing miners who are stuck in a collapsed mine.

The Draeger website explains how they opened the Drager Oxygen Apparatus Co. in New York but would move to Pittsburgh a few years after the turn of the century. This is likely where the equipment in the photo was acquired.

According to the Draeger website, the apparatus that the people on the left and right side of the picture are wearing is the Draeger model 1904/1909 Breathing Apparatus. This was a critical piece of machinery for the use of mine rescuing in the years after its release. The Draeger company conducted their own breathing experiments when designing the Drager Model 1904/1909 Breathing Apparatus. After much research, I was unable to conclusively identify what specific kind of mining equipment the middle person is wearing. “Draeger” is not written on that piece of equipment, so it is unclear if that is also a Draeger piece of mining safety apparatus.

The WVRHC has several other WV OnView images of both mining safety apparatus and general mining equipment. One of those images depicts a mine rescue crew standing in front of their van.

There is also another image that shows the van and associated equipment without the rescue miners in the image. Additional mining equipment can be viewed on the WVRHC’s website.

As I was conducting this research I began to think about the story behind the image. Who took this picture? Why did they take it? In my opinion, there are two likely options to this question. First, the people in the image decided to take a funny picture of themselves wearing this equipment, possibly taken by another friend. Either that, or it was taken by a member of the faculty after the students had a class about the use of this equipment. Either way, it’s a fascinating image with an even more fascinating history behind it.

By Samantha Ryder, WVRHC Graduate Assistant

If you want to conduct research at the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC), but aren’t sure how to use the microfilm, don’t worry. We can help you! The WVRHC has six microfilm units that are open to the public without any need to set up an appointment. Not only does the WVRHC have a vast collection of newspapers available to view on microfilm, but we also have other public records and some of our artifact and manuscripts collections to view. Most of those microfilm reels are available on large metal shelves behind the microfilm units. We can help you find anything you need. 

Some of the items in our collection are microfilms and the images below show what search results will look like when you find something in our collection that is either all microfilm or has both microfilm and paper originals.  

If you who want to use microfilm for the first time, you might be wondering what it is and why archives have  documents on microfilm. Microfilm are multiple documents photographed and placed onto reels. Not only can many more documents be stored in a smaller amount of space, but it also protects fragile artifacts from unnecessary touching and manipulation.  

The microfilm reader is a large machine located next to each of the computers. There is a camera overtop of the glass plate that reads the small pictures on the microfilm and projects them onto the computer. The computer has a program installed that allows the images to be viewed. There are two cylindrical white pieces of plastic that hold down the microfilm and rotate left and right depending on if you are moving the microfilm forward or backward. There is a glass plate that slightly lifts when you pull the metal handle of the microfilm forward. This helps keep the reel flat and in place. The microfilm reader operates by moving the microfilm from the original reel under the camera and onto another reel that is attached to the machine.  

After registering and signing in at the front desk, you can venture into the back of the WVRHC where the microfilms are stored. Login information will be available on a piece of paper next to the computer. When you login, the microfilm program should automatically pop up. The reel should be placed on the metal bar on the left side of the microfilm machine, and the microfilm should be gently pulled under the white cylindrical pieces and underneath the glass plate. Push the glass plate so it is fully underneath the camera. This glass plate can be moved around to see the entirety of your document.  

Once you’re logged in and the microfilm is on the machine, the software may ask you to pick between simple, standard, and advanced mode. Which one you pick is completely up to you.  

Now you’re ready to look at your materials! 

You might need to adjust the various settings to make the newspaper or other material you are viewing, more legible. The rotate, flip, and mirror buttons can be used to manipulate the image in case it is backwards or mirrored. Under the browsing tab, the adjust light levels can make the document lighter or darker. If after adjusting everything the document is still fuzzy, the camera focus in and out buttons can be used. The digital zoom button can be used to bring the image closer or farther away to make the writing more legible.

 At the bottom of the screen, the gray left and right arrow buttons move the documents forward. The red arrows on either side of the gray buttons allow the viewer to move the documents forward quickly. These red buttons are useful when moving the microfilm back to the original reel, which is something you will need to do when you’re finished viewing your document.  

If you find something interesting and want to save an image of the document to review later, you will need to save it to a flash drive. But don’t worry! The front desk has flash drives you can use.  

All you need to do is click on the ‘Addition Tool’ under cropping and select the article or section you want to save. This means you will need to draw a box around the section you want to save.  

In the bottom left corner, click ‘Capture Cropped Area’ and it will save to the bar on the bottom of the screen.  

After that, just click on the ‘Save to USB’ button on the top left corner. It’s right next to the ‘Addition Tool’ button you already used. Now your document is saved. After, you can then transfer those images to your own device, email them to yourself, or ask for assistance with emailing them. If you used one of the WVRHC’s flash drives, you should return it to the front desk after you’re done. 

You can also use your own flash drive if you have one with you. 

When you are all done looking at the microfilm just click on the left, red arrow button that moves the microfilm paper to the left and hold that button until all the microfilm is back onto the original reel. Put the reel back in the box and place that box on the wood cart so we can restack the microfilm for you. Feel free to browse as many microfilms as you want!  

Good luck with all your research! 

by Cat Melillo, Archives Processing Assistant, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) 

In the 1980s, Moundsville, WV’s Hare Krishna community, New Vrindaban, was home to the state’s only elephant. 
 
You may have heard of New Vrindaban, the Palace of Gold, and the many controversies surrounding its original leader, Swami Bhaktipada. If you haven’t, let’s just say it involved arson, money laundering, a massive fraud scheme, two murder conspiracies, and a federal indictment. 

Palace of Gold, mid 1980s.  

 
Setting aside the grislier details, did you know that in its heyday, the hills of rural Moundsville were home to a two-ton elephant imported from India? That’s right, the first Asian elephant imported into the U.S. in more than 30 years was a four-year-old female named Malini in 1986. At the time, she was the only elephant in the state of West Virginia. 

Malini performing in a procession, undated. 

 
Elephants are considered an auspicious animal in Hindu culture. New Vrindaban leadership spent two years cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get her to Moundsville. To prepare for her arrival, the devotee who would serve as her primary caregiver took a five-week training course in advanced elephant care at the San Diego Zoo. The two quickly formed a bond, and Malini became beloved in the community and a huge draw for tourists. 
 
Malini performed tricks such as bowing, balancing on a stand, offering flower garlands in parades, and waving a yak-tail whisk used in religious ceremonies. While employed in religious processions and festivals, she was lavishly decorated with jewels, fabrics, and paint. The devotees even brought Malini to their protests outside the Marshall County Courthouse and the West Virginia Penitentiary. 

Malini balancing on a stand, undated. 
 
Visitors would travel from all over West Virginia and the surrounding states to catch a glimpse of the Palace of Gold and its elephant. In fact, Malini was so popular, a plan was made to import an additional 34 elephants for use in religious pageants, as well as other exotic animals including Bengali tigers. Plans were drawn for the elephants to be housed in an area under the Palace of Gold, although thanks in part to the commune’s growing legal troubles, this underground elephant bunker was never completed. 
 
At the height of its tourism success, Swami Bhaktipada dreamed of expanding New Vrindaban to a second location just outside the New Jersey capital city of Trenton. The new community would house upwards of 12,000 residents, and the only way in or out would be by elephant-towed canal boats. And who was to build this new City of God? Why, none other than developer tycoon, Donald Trump! For better or worse (probably better), this plan never came to fruition. 

New York Post headline, 1987. 

Although there are no longer elephants, you can still travel to Moundsville and visit the original Palace of Gold (under new leadership). Day trip anyone?!

 
 
Sources: 
 
Doktorski, Henry, Compiler. Records regarding Kirtanananda Bhaktipada Swami and the New Vrindaban Commune, A&M 4646. West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries. Morgantown, West Virginia. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/resources/7046 
 
“Imported Elephant Represents Another West Virginia First.” The West Virginia Advocate [Capon Bridge, WV], 4 Aug. 1986, p. 32. 
 
MacDonald, Glenn and Norman, James. “Hare Trumpna!” New York Post, 14 Nov. 1987. 

by Ashley Brooker, Archives Processing Specialist, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC). 

If you have driven through the state, then you have likely seen the state slogan on highway signs—Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. But did you know that this year is roughly the 50-year anniversary of the slogan?  

This slogan originated during Governor Arch Moore’s first term in the 1970s. The phrase was created by an ad agency, most likely the Robert Goodman Agency in in Baltimore, Maryland, which Governor Moore used during his campaigns. This phrase quickly became popular in the state, and the Moore administration started using it in brochures and other state paraphernalia. In January 1970, the administration updated the state magazine from “Outdoor West Virginia” to “Wonderful West Virginia.” By 1975, it was on highways signs, and in 1976 it appeared on license plates for West Virginia’s bicentennial.  

While the “Wild, Wonderful West Virginia” slogan has always been popular with residents, it fell out of favor with succeeding governors. The slogan only adorned roadway signs from 1975 until 1991. From 1991 until 2005, there were no slogans used on highways. Then in 2005, Governor Joe Manchin implemented the “Open for Business” slogan, which wasn’t well received.  

In 2007, the residents of West Virginia had a chance to vote for our state slogan. Residents had three choices to vote for: “Wild, Wonderful West Virginia,” “Almost Heaven,” and “The Mountain State.” The slogan “Wild, Wonderful” beat out the others with 57.5% of the vote and has since then adorned roadway signs and state paraphernalia.  

After 50 years, West Virginia is now widely associated with its slogan. It can be found everywhere in the state, from signs to merchandise, and it most likely won’t disappear anytime soon.  

A Wild, Wonderful West Virginia enamel pin from A&M 4050, Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV papers.  

Sources:  

“Again, W.Va. is `Wild, Wonderful’.” The Daily Athenaeum. Last modified November 1, 2007. https://www.thedaonline.com/again-w-va-is-wild-wonderful/article_29c16208-1aa4-5ff2-a507-d376750acf3d.html.  

Crouser, Brad. Arch: The Life of Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr. West Virginia: Woodland Press, LLC, 2006. 

Henry, Kellen. “West Virginia `Wild, Wonderful,’ Returns As State Slogan.” The Daily Athenaeum. Last modified November 2, 2007. https://www.thedaonline.com/west-virginia-wild-wonderful-returns-as-state-slogan/article_9ce82dc5-46fe-5ec1-974e-58031512da4c.html. 

Turnbull, Andrew. “West Virginia “Map” Bases: A Primer, 1976-1995 – The Andrew Turnbull License Plate Gallery.” The Andrew Turnbull Network: A Portal to Hopelessly Disparate Topics. https://www.andrewturnbull.net/plates/westvirginia.html. 

“‘Wild Wonderful West Virginia’ Slogan Has History Dating to 1969.” Times West Virginian. Last modified July 27, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20250321200716/https://www.timeswv.com/news/wild-wonderful-west-virginia-slogan-has-history-dating-to-1969/article_45980471-9fa8-5ab9-9c58-4eda0abe54d7.html. 

Wild Wonderful West Virginia, 1969-1976, Box: II.B. – 9, Folder: 11. Governor Arch A. Moore Jr. papers, A&M 2862. West Virginia and Regional History Center. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/83763. 

Wild, wonderful West Virginia A to Z, circa 1970. Governor Arch A. Moore Jr. papers, A&M 2862. West Virginia and Regional History Center. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/230373  

Wild, Wonderful West Virginia posters featuring Glade Creek Grist Mill and Cass Railroad, 1969-1977, Box: II.H. – 19. Governor Arch A. Moore Jr. papers, A&M.2862. West Virginia and Regional History Center. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/233137  

West Virginia wild and wonderful pin, undated. Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV papers, A&M 4050. West Virginia Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/resources/1 

Blog post by Andrew T. Linderman, Reference Assistant, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC).

Kids say the darndest things and do some pretty goofy stuff. And today’s consumer-based society lends itself particularly well to the childhood fad of collecting useless kitsch. Personally, I — and much of the youth of the early 2000s — collected Tamagotchi, Pokémon, Furbee, Beanie Babies, Mighty Beanz, Hit Clips, and a handful of other plastic toys that now likely find themselves off-gassing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a quarter of the way down your local landfill.

But what did this childhood pastime look like before, at a time in America when the youth of the country weren’t bombarded with advertisements for sports gambling apps or using ChatGPT to write their essays while playing with their fidget spinners? In the paraphrased words of John Hammond, “My dear reader, welcome…to pre-Great Depression America!”

Earl Core’s “The Monongalia Story” is a treasure trove of information relating to the history of Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is a source that I’ve personally used countless times in my academic career and now operates as one of my go-to sources for questions surrounding historical events in-and-around Morgantown, West Virginia.

Recently, while assisting a West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) visitor, I came across a brief entry in the fifth volume of Core’s “The Monongalia Story” that simply reads, “Donkey baseball featured the eleventh Battelle District Fair, at Wadestown (Dominion-News, Sept. 28, 1934).”¹

Donkey baseball, as it turns out, was a pretty popular sport during the 1920s and throughout the 1930s. Popular enough to have Hollywood movie studio MGM produce the 1935 “An Oddity Donkey Baseball” directed by John Waters (no, not that John Waters).

The rules were simple. Everyone was on a donkey, excluding the catcher, pitcher, and the batter. If the batter got a hit, he then mounted his donkey before rounding the bases. Players in the field had to dismount their donkeys to field the ball but needed to remount their donkey before throwing the ball to a baseman.

That’s donkey baseball. Now, I’m already on board, but if you need more convincing there is this — the donkeys didn’t especially appreciate the sport and often simply refused to move. Other times, while batters were striking out at the plate, donkeys were striking out at players. Donkeys kicking players, bucking riders, and biting bystanders seems to be just part of the game, with one game in Georgia ending in more players injured than runs scored.²

Unfortunately, the sport of donkey baseball seems to have faded with the advent of the Great Depression. With most Americans struggling to find work, the luxury of mounted baseball just wasn’t worth the price of admission. Which brings us to our next fad. What if I could offer you all the excitement of donkey baseball minus the $0.25 entrance fee? I bring you…pole sitting. This may be familiar to some readers because there is that one episode of M*A*S*H, but for the uninitiated, the concept is even easier to grasp than donkey baseball.

• Step 1: Find a pole, preferably one that has some sort of perch on the top.
• Step 2: Climb the pole and sit on top of it for a period of time.
• Step 3. ?
• Step 4. Profit

I know I said, “minus the $0.25 entrance fee,” but it didn’t start off as a cash grab. The stoic and refined art of pole sitting can be traced to the Byzantine Empire and the stylite or “pillar-saint.” The most famous of which being Simeon Stylites the Elder who climbed a pillar in Syria in 423 and decided he liked it enough to stay for the next 36 years until his death.³

However, the most famous pole sitter of the 20th century was stuntman and former sailor Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly. Alleged to have survived five shipwrecks, two airplane crashes, three automobile accidents, and one train wreck, Kelly claims to have made his pole sitting debut at the age of seven. However, his fame truly came in 1924 after sitting atop a pole for 13 hours and 13 minutes, either from a dare from a friend or as a publicity stunt.⁴ Kelly had no idea what he had started.

Kelly’s record was quickly broken, so in 1926, he sits atop a flagpole in St. Louis for 7 days and one hour. In June 1927, in Newark, New Jersey, he attempts to best himself at 8 days. He stays for 12 and someone breaks that record. In 1929, in Baltimore, Maryland, he stayed for 23 days. Again, Kelly’s record is broken. In 1930, atop a flagpole 225 feet high on the top of Atlantic City’s Steel Pier, he stayed 49 days and one hour.

Kelly was said to have nourished himself mainly on a diet of coffee and cigarettes. If you’re wondering how he slept, he allegedly trained himself to sleep upright and would insert his thumbs into holes atop the pole so that if he began to drift off the pole, the pain caused by his thumbs being nearly broken would awaken him.

At his peak, Kelly toured cities across America, charging admission to see him sit on a pole and earning income through endorsements and book deals. This level of popularity then translated to children across America, climbing poles and charging locals a viewing fee — as a sort of early lemonade stand business model. However, instead of a child serving you a glass of lemonade, you would’ve paid to watch a child possibly fall from a 30-foot-tall pole.

I thought donkey baseball was wild, but pole sitting was crazy. People lost teeth from being smashed against poles in thunderstorms. Multiple people competed against one another to see who could sit on their respective pole the longest. Parents acted as sports managers, arguing over their children sitting on poles and whether assisting the child or having the child wear a safety harness constituted cheating. Google “pole sitting” and switch to images — it’s wild.

Unfortunately, with the Wall Street crash of 1929, pole sitting went the same way as donkey baseball and fell from the limelight. Some die-hards have tried to bring the magic of pole sitting back, but it has yet to regain the popularity it once had. Alright, I’ll admit, I stretched for this one. Goldfish swallowing technically seems to have its origin post-Great Depression in 1939, but comedy rule of three and all. The place was Harvard University and the date, April 1939. It started with a dare to swallow a live goldfish. A few weeks later it was upped to three goldfish and some days after that, it was 24. By the end of the month, it was 101. Seemingly confined to college campuses across the nation, the fad of swallowing live goldfish or “Goldfish Gulping,” as the Los Angeles Times so colorfully called it, took off as quickly as it ended.⁵

College administrators suspended one student for “unbecoming” conduct. Doctors warned of the medical risks associated with eating live fish. The Massachusetts Legislature sponsored a bill that promised to “protect and preserve the fish from cruel and wanton consumption.” My personal favorite was a letter published by the New York Times questioning the health benefits of consuming fish and ease of entrance for some universities.

By May of 1939, the fad of swallowing pet fish had faded. With Europe on the brink of war, it just didn’t seem like a college kid could really relax and toss back a few gold ones anymore. Some kids in Chicago tried eating vinyl records in place of goldfish, but that never really stuck.

Childhood fads come and go. Like donkey baseball, pole sitting, and goldfish gulping, the fads of today will also ebb and flow. So, the next time you see a group of teenagers obsessing over a new gadget or viral meme, remember how much fun those fads and phases can be.

1. Earl L. Core, The Monongalia Story, Vol. 5
2. https://corsoatlanta.com/blog/donkey-baseball/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylite
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_%22Shipwreck%22_Kelly
5. https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/stories/1939-year-goldfish-gulping

Blog post by Olivia Howard, Reference Assistant, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC).

The late 1960’s and early 1970’s saw the rise of the women’s liberation movement. As women fought for equal rights, opportunities and recognition, scholars began to challenge the male-dominated narratives in academia. This led to the emergence of Women’s Studies as a formal academic field.

The first women’s studies program in the United States was established in 1970 at San Diego State College. The discipline grew rapidly, and programs were established across the country. By 1977, there were 276 women’s studies programs nationwide.

In 1980, a Women’s Studies program was established at West Virginia University in the College of Arts and Sciences with Judith Stitzel, professor of English, serving as the program’s first coordinator. By 1984, the Center for Women’s Studies was established with Stitzel being named the Center’s first director.

A course syllabus for the Spring 1980 Introduction to Women’s Studies class lists topics such as images of women in fairy tales, images of women in the Bible, sexism and language and images of women in popular culture.

A syllabus for Introduction to Women’s Studies for the Spring 1980 semester.

Some classes offered that semester were Introduction to Women’s Studies, Human Sexuality, Women in the Labor Force, History of American Women and Women Writers in England and America.

A brochure for the Women’s Studies Program for the Fall 1981.

The first class of women’s studies certificate recipients graduated in 1986. Since that time, the number of students enrolled in women’s studies courses throughout WVU has grown to over 2,000.

Stitzel was a major influence in the development of WVU’s Women Studies program. She began teaching English at WVU in 1967 and retired in 1998. She served as director of the Center for Women’s Studies from 1980 to 1992.

Judith Stitzel.

Materials regarding Judith Stitzel and the development of Women’s Studies as part of the curriculum at WVU can be found at the West Virginia & Regional History Center (A&M 5039) as part of the West Virginia Feminist Activist and Women’s History Collection

Harriet Eliza Lyon, the first woman graduate of West Virginia University (WVU), was a focal point of the two-year long Women’s Centenary, “Excellence Through Equity” from 1989-1991.

A product of interdepartmental effort, the Women’s Centenary was spearheaded by WVU’s Center for Women’s Studies, which began planning for the long celebration in 1987. The early years of planning involved copious amounts of historical research, coordinated by Dr. Lillian Waugh, which led to the discovery (or, re-discovery) of Harriet E. Lyon’s graduation.

Born on January 31, 1863, in Albion, New York, Lyon predates the state of West Virginia by five months, when western Virginians separated from Virginia on June 20, 1863, during the Civil War.

In 1867, two years after the end of the civil war, Lyon’s father, Franklin S. Lyon, moved his family to Morgantown, West Virginia to begin a professorship with the newly opened Agricultural College of West Virginia. The elder Lyon, perhaps inspired by his aunt Mary Lyon, who founded the prestigious women’s college Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1837, was a staunch supporter of women in higher education. While he attempted to enroll his daughters in WVU (as it would come to be known in 1868) throughout the 1870s, the efforts only succeeded in two of his daughters (Harriet and Florence) taking non-credit courses from professors supportive of women in higher education.

Harriet Lyons’s first stint in Morgantown ended in 1885, when her father accepted employment as the president of Broaddus College in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where she would assist in teaching German. She attended the newly opened Vassar College in 1888 but did not graduate.

Upon WVU’s acceptance of female students, Lyon transferred from Vassar College and began attending WVU in September 1889 as one of the first female students. Although she faced discrimination and abuse for her enrollment at WVU, Lyon, the only woman in her class of fourteen students, graduated as valedictorian in 1891 with an Artium Baccalaureatus (A.B.) degree.

Harriet E. Lyon would go on to marry Franklin Jewett in Fredonia, New York, and raise four children. During her life in New York, Lyon was a prominent figure in the music scene for her work as a composer. She died on May 7, 1949, in Winter Park, Florida.

Following intense research, the Women’s Centenary planners sought to honor Lyon’s achievements. The celebrations began on September 20, 1989, the one-hundred-year anniversary of the entry of the first ten women (including Lyon) into WVU and ended on June 10, 1991, the one-hundred-year anniversary of Lyon’s graduation.

One event in particular stands out from the others in the two-year long celebration. On September 20, 1989, a celebration dinner in the Erickson Alumni Center featured a theatre performance, “Centenary Salutations” with a puppet fashioned in the likeness of Harriet E. Lyon.

The idea to include a puppet show in the celebration dinner first appeared in an April 26, 1989, meeting of the Women’s Centenary Steering Committee, when Judith Stitzel, former professor of Women’s Studies, discussed the need for entertainment at the banquet. Joan Siegrist, then an associate professor in the WVU Division of Theatre, was brought into the discussion as a potential collaborator for entertainment. It was decided that Siegrist, with assistance from the Women’s Centenary team, would create a puppet show to be performed by the WVU Puppet Mobile following the banquet.

Utilizing the opportunity as a learning experience for students in Siegrist’s Theatre 284 class, prominent Puppet Artist Bart Roccoberton was brought on as a technical consultant. Roccoberton gave a lecture demonstration and assisted with the puppet’s construction, which was completed only days before the scheduled performance.

The puppet, 2 ½ tall and inspired by Harriet Lyon’s 1891 graduation photo, had hard control of one arm. This hand led to the performance’s name, Centenary Salutations, with the hand as a “greeting.” Further research into the fashion of the era was completed to ensure a close resemblance to Lyon’s graduation dress.

The performance, lasting roughly 15 minutes, included Harriet the puppet talking and singing to the audience, accompanied by music, poetry, and corresponding visuals. In the audience of this one-time performance were the granddaughters of Harriet Lyon, Rachel Jewett Ledbetter and Jean Hillman Jessup, who called the moment “an extraordinarily exciting thing for all women”. At the celebration banquet, Ledbetter and Jessup presented the Women’s Centenary coordinators with a silver tea set that once belonged to Harriet E. Lyon.

Materials regarding Harriet E. Lyon, the Women’s Centenary, and the Women’s Studies Center, can be found in the West Virginia University, Women’s Study Center, Records and West Virginia University, Women’s Studies Center, Women’s Centenary, Records at the West Virginia and Regional History Center.

This project is made possible with support from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.

Blog post by Lori Hostuttler, Director, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC). 

This post is a re-issue of Lori Hostuttler’s 2015 blog. 

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who championed equality and justice and espoused non-violence, unconditional love for our enemies, tolerance and service. His words are just as poignant today as they were in the 1960s. And his dream is still something we strive to achieve. He is certainly someone that inspires me to be an optimist, to cherish love and to forgive – to be a better person. Thinking about my blog entry for today, I wondered if Dr. King had any West Virginia connection. I found that he spoke in Charleston 65 years ago this week. 

On Sunday, Jan. 24, 1960, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a sermon and message at the First Baptist Church in Charleston. A small announcement in the Charleston Gazette appeared in the Come to Church column of the Saturday paper. 

The editors of the Gazette also included an editorial noting that King would see the same race issues in Charleston as he had in the South, but there were also “men of good will.” 

Gazette reporter Don Marsh interviewed Dr. King at his hotel in Charleston the evening before his address. King talked specifically about integration as a step beyond desegregation. He said, “ultimately, we seek integration which is true inter-group, inter-personal living where you sit on the bus, you sit together not because the law says it but because it is natural, it is what is right.” 

Don Marsh also attended the sermon and summarized it the following day. King spoke to a packed house and was welcomed by Charleston Mayor John Shanklin. Marsh described his voice as “low, powerful, controlled.” 

King urged forgiveness and reconciliation as a new order emerged in the United States. He also appealed for action, asking the audience to do what they could to “advance the case of mutual self-respect and understanding in any way they could.” Saying also, “we must work unceasingly for first class citizenship, but we mustn’t use second class means to get it.” 

In preparing to write today, I read Coretta Scott King’s piece on the meaning of the Martin Luther King holiday. It is also a call to action, a call to serve, just as Dr. King asked of those in his Charleston audience in 1960. Beyond a day of remembrance, Mrs. King calls for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to be a day of service. 

As I look back at these news articles and quotes from King, I can see some progress in the last half century. At the same time, I also realize how much more work needs done on matters of race, poverty, peace and justice all these years later. As we each celebrate and remember Dr. King today, I hope we are moved to work harder for those in need and to love others unconditionally, just as he did. 

Maryat Lee, born Mary Attaway Lee in Covington, Kentucky, is typically remembered for three things: her relationship with famed author Flannery O’Connor, pioneering street theater in Harlem through the Salt and Latin Theater (SALT), and founding EcoTheater, an indigenous theater that created plays out of oral histories in Appalachia and used non-actors in its productions.

However, despite the overwhelming acknowledgement of Lee’s impact on theater and the arts, an untapped well of research can be found within the detailed and deeply personal journals she kept from 1936 until her death in 1989. Save for a lack of writing in the 1940s, Lee kept up her diaristic practices religiously and took it just as seriously as her work in theater.

A large part of her journaling details her tumultuous business and romantic relationship with Fran Belin, a Brooklyn-native pianist and photographer who left New York City with Lee to create The Women’s Farm in Powley’s Creek, West Virginia, in 1973. While The Women’s Farm would go on to be overshadowed by the creation of EcoTheater some years later, it aimed to be a retreat for artists and intellectuals, primarily women and feminists. Some prominent visitors that Lee would write about included the “grandmother of Appalachian Studies” Helen Matthews Lewis; Paul and Nanine Dowling of the America the Beautiful Fund; music critic Howard Klein and realist painter Patricia Windrow as well as their two sons, Adam Klein and Moondi Klein; artist Maxi Cohen; writers and activists Toni Cade Bambara and Sonia Sanchez; playwright Clare Coss; and theater producer Susan Richardson.

Visitors of The Women’s Farm often became long-time friends (and sometimes romantic partners) with Lee and Belin, who were involved in the feminist movement and often attended women’s workshops and events with people they had met through The Women’s Farm.

Throughout her journals, Lee’s descriptions of people are oftentimes frank and unforgiving, such as referring to writer James Dickey as “gross”, journalist Dorothy Day as “sunken and ravaged” and writer Hannah Tillich as “smug in a very European way”.

Lee also wrote about world events that interested her. On the day she found out that Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match in 1973, she expressed her excitement by scrawling “BILLIE JEAN WON!!” at the top of the page, starkly out of place surrounded by her otherwise contained penmanship.

Some pages are written in a variety of different inks, showcasing Lee’s tendency to return to old passages to provide updates, clarify issues, and include more detailed descriptions.

Apparent in all journals are the inclusion of materials she references in her writings: letters, newspaper clippings, cards, and other ephemeral material like bird feathers and pressed flowers. Occasionally, Lee would sketch scenes to accompany text.

If Lee could not immediately access her journals when the urge to write struck, she would record her thoughts on any nearby paper. This can be seen with a few pages torn from a spiral notebook that she must have scavenged and wrote on during a hospital stay, which she later stapled into her journal.

The surprising details found throughout Lee’s journals are numerous and showcase her deep inner life alongside the practical realities of the unconventional life she led, whether that be as an emerging playwright in Harlem, New York City or as a farmer in the countryside of Powley’s Creek, West Virginia.

Lee’s journals, as well as countless other materials related to her life and works, can be found and accessed in the Maryat Lee, Playwright, Papers at the West Virginia and Regional History Center.

This project is made possible with support from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.

Following Veterans Day this November, the West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) will have the pleasure of working with West Virginia high school students for the third consecutive year of the West Virginia National Cemeteries Project. The goal of the project, which is funded by the West Virginia Humanities Council, is for students to research veterans who are buried in one of the two national cemeteries located in West Virginia and publish works that tell their stories.

In the first year of the project, students created biographies of many of these veterans, including men and women from different branches of the military, which can be found on the project website. In the second year of the project, the students researched veterans Clifford Condon and Nelson Bickley and contributed to online exhibitions about their lives and service: “The Record Keepers,” about Clifford Condon, and “The Mentor,” about Nelson Bickley.

The role of the WVRHC in the project is to provide hands-on experience with primary sources that reinforce what students are learning from their project advisors. The WVRHC has also scanned related documents from the collections to create a ‘surrogate’ collection that the students could use in their classrooms. This year, we will be hosting students from University High School, in Morgantown, and Grafton High School. Their field trips will bring them into a university library and archive, perhaps for the first time, and introduce them to the foundations of historical research. In small groups, the students will rotate through stations where they will analyze different types of archival material with guidance from the WVRHC and project staff.

This collaboration can spark the interest of the next generation of historical researchers and educate the public about the service members laid to rest in our national cemeteries. This Veterans Day, we encourage you to take a look at the exhibits and biographies online, and we look forward to sharing with you what this year’s students publish!

Written by Olivia Howard, reference assistant

Another Fall semester means the start of a new football season! As we headed into the first game of the season on August 31^st, I became curious about the history of football at West Virginia University.

I began my search by looking through the many photos of Mountaineer football through the years that can be viewed on West Virginia History OnView and then filled in the gaps with more detailed information from books within the West Virginia & Regional History Center’s collection, such as Bring on the Mountaineers by Kevin Keys and Shelly Poe.

WVU football traces its origins all the way back to 1891, but like most great things in history, it didn’t have an easy start.

It all began with a small group determined to organize a team. At the time, only 224 students were enrolled at the university, but even with limited options, they were able to recruit others and create a team of fourteen players. Despite knowing very little about the game and facing a negative response from faculty and other students, the team enthusiastically took on the challenge. They arranged a game with Washington & Jefferson on Thanksgiving Day, raised money for equipment, and worked to transform pastureland into a suitable game site.

An estimated crowd of 250 gathered to watch the game. They arrived in carriages decorated in gold and blue and enjoyed treats like hot chocolate before the game in an early version of the ever-popular fan tradition of tailgating.

Though WVU suffered a loss of 72-0, this first game made its mark. It served as the beginning of the long-lasting tradition of Mountaineer spirit that we know today.

Over the next several years, WVU football experienced many changes. They increased the number of games in their schedule and took on new opponents, even beginning a rivalry with one. On October 24, 1895, they played their first game against Pitt (then Western University of Pennsylvania) and took home the victory with a score of 8-0.

In 1918, a record crowd of 8,000 attended a game against Washington & Jefferson and by 1922, during their only undefeated season, the Mountaineers saw another record crowd of 15,000. They had come a long way since that first crowd of only 250 spectators and it was time for a stadium upgrade.

Plans for a new stadium were set in motion in 1922 by athletic director Harry A. Stansbury. The site of the new stadium, located down the hill from Woodburn Hall, was chosen because of its proximity to the railroad stations. Steam shovels and horse-drawn wagons were used for the excavation process, which took more than four weeks to complete.

Mountaineer Field was completed in time for the 1924 season. The first game was a win against West Virginia Wesleyan with a score of 21-6 in front of a crowd of 16,000. At the time, this was the largest crowd to gather for a sporting event in West Virginia, but by 1979, Mountaineer Field would see a crowd as large as 38,681!

When the location of the original Mountaineer Field limited its ability to be expanded, Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium was constructed. The field was dedicated on September 6, 1980. Not only was this game the first for head coach Don Nehlen, but it was also the exciting game where John Denver made an appearance and led fans in the singing of “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

The largest crowd the newest stadium has seen was in 1993 with 70,222 in attendance and it regularly sees crowds of around 60,000.

WVU Football has come a long way since that first game in 1891, but one thing has remained the same through it all: the deep sense of pride one feels to be a mountaineer.

Let’s have another great season and let’s go, Mountaineers!

Written by Devon Lewars

In today’s standards, it is frowned upon to tear signatures from their page, however, this used to be a common practice amongst collectors. Signatures were often torn from pages of correspondence, deeds, or even wills. The West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC) currently owns multiple archives and manuscripts (A&M) collections that include items of this nature. A collection of signatures was donated to the WVRHC and a few of those pieces are currently on display in the rare book room.

Similarly, in the past, it was common for individuals to loot sites of archeological significance. An artifact is most valuable when it is found in relation to the age of the soil it rests in. If an object is taken from its historical context, it loses value.

In the 1970s, five cultural shields of the Acoma Pueblo (Uh-Ko-Muh Pweh-Blo) village of New Mexico vanished from the home of one family. Although under the protection of one caretaker, the shields were collectively owned by every member of the tribe. The shields, when not used in ceremony, were kept in a cold, dark room. They were part of the tribe’s identity, never to leave the Acoma or be destroyed.

In 2016, after nearly 50 years, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the FBI brought photos of one shield to Acoma. The shield was pictured under fluorescent lights and to be sold at EVE, a Paris auction house. Elena Saavedra Buckley, an editor of the HighCountryNews perfectly describes the shield as “round and rawhide, it showed a face in its center, with black, low-scooped horns, like a water buffalos, and a red-lipped, jagged smile. The rich colors of the paint — emerald green, with red, blue and yellow radiating from the face’s edges — seemed to have survived the years unfaded, even as they flaked and mottled the surface. Two feathers with rusted tips, like an eagle’s, hung at each side, pierced through the leather and strung by their quills.”[i] It wasn’t until the evening of November 15, 2019, that the shield was seen by members of the tribe. Acoma leaders prayed alongside the shield past midnight that day, never leaving its side.

Between 2016 and 2019 the Acoma Pueblo fought desperately against the convoluted systems of Paris’s government and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Instances of looting and/or stealing artifacts from native reservations have been occurring for centuries. The repatriation of these artifacts is a slow and often grueling process for the tribes and those that see the loss of the items rarely get to see its return.

Although the donated signatures in our care have lost their context, they provide an opportunity for current generations to reflect on practices of the past. The WVRHC and other institutions that make research accessible do not condone the tearing or cutting of historical documents.

Courtesy of West Virginia & Regional History Center – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

For further discussion of this collection, refer to Stewart Plein, Curator of Rare Books at the history center and frankly, a wonderful person to chat with. To learn more about current processing standards speak to Jane LaBarbara, Head of Archives and Manuscripts and a strong advocate for the protection and accessibility of archival collections.

[i] Buckley, Elena Saavedra. “Unraveling the Mystery of a Stolen Ceremonial Shield.” HighCountryNews, August 1, 2020. https://www.hcn.org/issues/52.8/indigenous-affairs-unraveling-the-mystery-of-a-stolen-ceremonial-shield.

Written by Dee Elliott

Today, we’ll be looking at the fascinating winter festival celebrated in Helvetia, West Virginia.  This celebration is known as Fasnacht, an annual Pennsylvania Dutch celebration that marks the ending of winter, as well as the coming of Ash Wednesday.  Much like Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras, Fasnacht precedes the Lenten period for many Catholics and Protestants that celebrate it.  However, one tiny village in West Virginia with a population of only 84 people puts on an entire festival each year to mark the passage of the seasons.  Helvetia was settled in 1869 by a small group of Swiss and German immigrants, as evident by the multitude of Swiss flags seen around town.  Every year around February or March, whenever Fat Tuesday falls, the small, usually sleepy village comes alive with hundreds of people converging on the town to celebrate Fasnacht.  In 2024, Fasnacht took place on February 13, with the festival itself taking place the weekend before on February 10.  In 2023, there was estimated to have been almost 2000 people in the village taking part in the celebration!

Fasnacht itself is a fascinating, unique holiday that signals not only the ending of winter, but provides an opportunity for the otherwise small community to make an impactful mark on the vast, rugged culture of West Virginia.  Starting out with a parade through town, people construct and wear creative (and sometimes frightening) masks to ward away bad spirits.  Doing this is an effort to keep winter from lasting any longer.  After the parade, everyone gathers in city hall and takes part in a massive dance for three or so hours before an effigy of Old Man Winter, the personification of winter, is cut down from his perch and dragged outside where it’s thrown onto a bonfire.  With the burning of winter comes the warmth of spring…that is, if Old Man Winter doesn’t have any more life left in him. 

Before about five years ago, Fasnacht was more of a local event that didn’t really get much attention from outside the immediate area, but has dramatically increased with the release of the video game Fallout 76 in 2018, made by Bethesda Studios.  Taking place in a post-apocalyptic West Virginia, the player can take part in a virtual Fasnacht parade, complete with wearing creative (and sometimes frightening) masks.  During the Fasnacht event, one must fight off massive radioactive toads in order to keep the festivities going, and the player is rewarded with one of the many bizarre masks related to the event.

The event has gotten more and more popular recently, turning a relatively unknown local event in which people would primarily privately celebrate into a must-see festival!  This year was the biggest yet, actually.  So much so, in fact, that tickets to the event sold out!  Special shirts and beer steins were made for the festival, so people can have their own little piece of Helvetia.  There is also a general store in town that, when the festival is not in full swing, has a Fasnacht mask museum that people can visit while they are in the area, as well as a Swiss/German Restaurant The Hütte Restaurant to further celebrate the origins of the villagers of Helvetia.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center is proud to have several collections concerning not only Fasnacht, but life in Helvetia as a whole.  Particularly wvhistoryonview.org is a great resource for anyone looking for photos of both Fasnacht and Helvetia over the years.  The David H. Sutton photo collection is also a fantastic resource for those who want a glimpse at Fasnacht and those who used to live in the area.  Not to mention in the Oral History collection, there are several pieces detailing the celebration.  While the masks may have changed since the earliest festivals, interest in Fasnacht has only gone up!  Come and take a look at our holdings about Fasnacht and Helvetia today!

Written by Madisyn Magers, Graduate Assistant for the West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection 

       The Equal Right Amendment (ERA) is an amendment to the United States Constitution that would prohibit sex discrimination and bring equality of rights under the law to anyone, regardless of sex. The amendment was first proposed in 1923. Throughout the years following the amendments’ introduction, enough states have ratified the amendment (passage by two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and approval by three-fourths of the states), but they did not meet the specified deadline, so the amendment is still not a part of the U.S. Constitution.  Many states ratified the amendment during the 1970s, including West Virginia which ratified the amendment in 1972, but some states ratified the amendment as late as 2020. 

       Lillian Waugh was professor of Women’s Studies at West Virginia University, a member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and one of the founders of the Morgantown chapter of the organization. The National Organization for Women is a non-profit organization that is centered on women’s rights. Waugh was active in NOW and advocated for the ERA. Her collection includes materials that demonstrate her activism including many papers that show her participation and leadership in Morgantown NOW. The collection also includes an interesting selection of the pins and badges she collected.  

Highlighted are two pins from her collection, a green NOW circle pin, and a gold ERA pin. While the official dates for the pins are unknown, it is believed they date from the 1970s when there were several marches and rallies in support of the amendment. To obtain more information about the Lillian Waugh Papers or any other collection in the West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection, contact the WVRHC.