WVU Libraries

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.

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[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. 

The WVU Humanities Center and the Religious Studies program invite the campus community to attend a presentation entitled “Feeling is Believing: A New Approach to Conspiracy Theory” at 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 4, in the Downtown Library’s Milano Room.

In this talk, Donovan Schaefer, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, will examine what makes people believe and how science and disinformation battle to convince us. He’ll also raise the question of why the apocalyptic discourse of conspiracy theory has risen to prominence in our current political moment.

Schaefer brings a new way of assessing the relationship between thinking and feeling, suggesting that we see them as deeply interrelated rather than fundamentally separate. Shifting our frame of reference allows us to draw a clearer map of how and why conspiracy theories have managed to gain such a powerful hold in contemporary society.

Schaefer is the author of “Religious Affects: Animality, Evolution, and Power” and “Wild Experiment: Feeling Science and Secularism after Darwin.” His research and teaching examine the role of affect and power in formations of secularism, religion, science and material culture. 

For more information contact the Humanities Center at humanitiescenter@mail.wvu.edu.

The WVU Humanities Center and the Religious Studies program are co-sponsoring a workshop for faculty titled “Affect, Teaching, and Academic Transformation” from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday, March 4, in the Downtown Library’s Milano Room.

Donovan Schaefer, an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, will lead the workshop. Participants will explore the overlaps between affect/emotion and teaching, especially in light of Academic Transformation at WVU. They will delve into questions, such as: What impact has Academic Transformation had on our emotional lives within (and outside) the classroom? Are there ways to specifically address this affective dimension of teaching in order to better serve both faculty and students?

Schaefer is the author of “Religious Affects: Animality, Evolution, and Power” and “Wild Experiment: Feeling Science and Secularism after Darwin.” His research and teaching examine the role of affect and power in formations of secularism, religion, science and material culture.

This event is limited to 20 participants and lunch will be provided. Registration is required. Please RSVP to humanitiescenter@mail.wvu.edu and include any dietary preferences or allergies.

This post, poem, and commentary were written by Dr. Brucella Jordan, and presented at the WVRHC April 4, 2023

     Norman Harrison Jordan was a native West Virginian, born in 1938 in the small coal mining town of Ansted, WV, which is in Fayette County.  His family was some of the early African Americans who migrated from Virginia to work for the Gauley Mountain Coal Company around 1906.  His maternal grandfather, William Rogers, had worked in an iron foundry in Virginia and his skills there contributed to his becoming Supervisor of the coke ovens in Ansted; an unusual position for an African American at that time.  Norman was born in a coal company house which was just recently torn down. 

    His paternal grandfather, William Harvey Jordan, came to Ansted to work in the mines in about 1912.  He was born in Black Hawk Hollow near Charleston, WV.  So, Norman’s immediate family; his mother, father, and siblings were the 2^nd generation of their family living in Ansted.  Norman was the 4^th child of nine children (4 girls and 5 boys).

     His first memories of being aware of poetry were associated with two people; his grandmother and his elementary school teacher:  When he was about 7 years old his grandmother was director of a church play and he had to recite a poem in it; she often included poetry in other church plays and programs that she directed and she wrote poetry herself. 

     Also as a child, he attended the segregated school in Ansted, and when he was about 10 years old he contracted Rheumatic Fever.  After being released from the hospital he began being taught at home by a homebound teacher because he was too weak to walk up the hill to the school.  His teacher, Mrs. Childs was a lover of poetry and included some of it in her lesson plans.  They would often read poetry together and he became familiar with the poetry of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Phillis Wheatley, James Weldon Johnston, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and some of the other pre-1950s poets.   He would memorize poems and was encouraged to write poetry by his teacher, and he did write some poems at that early age.

In the 1940’s and 50s there was an outmigration of African Americans leaving WV as some of the mines began to have less work and people began going elsewhere to find jobs.  Norman’s family went to Cleveland, Ohio in 1951 where factory jobs were plentiful and where his paternal grandfather, who had already left West Virginia, was already living. Norman’s father and oldest brother had gone ahead to find work and a place to live before bringing the rest of the family.  However, that process was sped up by the fact that Norman was injured in an accident.  His older brother had found and was playing with the family gun and accidentally shot Norman in the face, just above his mouth; he survived of course, but his father came back to WV and immediately moved the family to Cleveland.

     Living and going to school in a large city took some getting used to.  His family moved into a house on the east side of Cleveland; East 88^th Street.  It was a neighborhood that had initially been all Polish immigrants; it was called the Sowinski area, but African Americans were beginning to move into it as whites were moving out of it.; and there were some racial clashes associated with that.  Norman was also sometimes made fun of and picked on at school because of his somewhat country ways; he was still wearing overalls to school and he had a slight speech impediment, which could have been caused by the gunshot wound. 

     However, he was continuing to write poetry and it was during this time that he wrote what he has always considered to be his most popular poem, even till today; “Hometown Boy.” As a female I could relate to this poem because it was common for African Americans who had migrated north from southern states to have relatives from the south to come visit them and we always had certain impressions of them; their southern culture being different from those who had been born and raised in the north.  And I would imagine that some of that inspired the poem Hometown Boy.

     As a teenager in Cleveland Norman briefly attended High School, but despite his mother’s objections, he dropped out before graduating to join the Navy in 1955; he following in the footsteps of his two older brothers who had joined the military early.  He was stationed on a small warship In the Navy and was able to travel a lot to different counties and he was proud of that.  And he was able to read all of the books of poetry in the Navy library while also continuing to write poetry.  He also briefly got into song writing because some singers heard about his poetry and asked him to write songs for them and he wrote quite a large number of songs during that time.  But he had a bad experience with someone stealing the bulk of his songs. He became very depressed over that, which caused him to stop writing altogether for a while. 

     After being discharged from the Navy in 1959 and going back to Cleveland, his interest and focus returned to poetry.  He began visiting the Cleveland Public Library and reading the poetry of international poets; the poetry of the Chinese, Cubans, South Americans and Africans really fascinated and inspired him as well as the poetry of American Beat Generation poets like LeRoi Jones, Allen Ginsburg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane Di Prima and Bob Kaufman.  During this time he also decorated his car with some of his short poems and began reading some of his poetry on local radio shows.  He was writing poems that were somewhat reflective of his personal life at the time.   An example of the type of poetry he was writing would be:       

“A Winter’s Night Walk.”

                                                Fletcher and I will walk tonight

                                                No one will hear us come or go

                                                Nor will they hear the empty wine bottle

                                                When it falls in the soft, silent, snow.

       It was in the early 1960s when Norman and I met. What I remember from that period is that my family and I had moved onto east 88^th street in Cleveland and I had noticed a young black man walking in the neighborhood who often carried a brief case, which set him off from the other young black men on the street. I would later learn that there were poems in that briefcase.  At that time Norman worked as a Supervisor for the Ohio Dept. of Highways, he was about 25 years old, and still lived at home with his parents and some other siblings, and he and his brothers and a lot of their friends drank a lot of alcohol, something that he had begun doing when he was in the Navy and actually he was fast becoming an alcoholic at this time.   But, he was different and I was attracted to him.  We dated for a while and fell in love, but then I broke up with him because of his drinking.

The following poem is what he wrote when we broke up:

1963

I have abandoned my past,

left behind five unanswered

love letters

and the ashes of a poem

I wanted to give to Brucella

INSTEAD, I gave her a toast

with five hundred barrels of wine

Soon afterwards he joined Alcoholics Anonymous, began making positive changes in his life, and we got married.

     It was in the early 1960s that Norman’s style of poetry began to change and what really catapulted the recognition of him and his poetry at that time was the Civil Rights Movement.  Norman was actively involved with the CRM in Cleveland in terms of social and political activism and he would soon also become one of the most prominent figures and a driving force in the Black Arts Movement of that era.  As with most social and political movements such as civil rights, there is an artistic component in which artistically inclined persons express themselves regarding the social and political activities that are taking place.  So, the Black Arts Movement (BAM) was the artistic component and expression of the Civil Rights Movement (CRM). 

     Norman’s writing began to reflect the realities of the Civil Rights Movement and he also became associated with a group of other young poets in the area who were doing the same thing.  He, along with poet and publisher Russell Atkins soon co-founded that group into the Muntu Poets.   They met regularly in writing workshops and performed throughout Cleveland’s metropolitan area.  Also at this time Cleveland’s Karamu House Theater, which is the oldest African American theater in the country presented a program entitled “An Evening with Norman Jordan” in which his poetry was read on stage by their actors.

      As his poetry became more popular, Norman would transition into becoming a major participant in the National Black Arts Movement performing with other poets like Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka, Haki Madhubuti, Sonja Sanchez, Askia Muhammad Toure, Maya Angelou,  Quincy Troup, Eugene Redmond, and several others; they performed regularly together and he became friends with many of them. Also, he was proud to have met Langston Hughes, who included two of Norman’s poems in his anthology The Poetry of the Negro in 1965. 

     The poetry of the Black Arts Movement, like the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance movement tended to express the plight of African Americans and was more radical and often militant in nature.  The 1960s was a time when more research was being done and the truth about African American history and culture was being revealed.  People wanted change and were willing to do what was necessary to get it; whether you fit into the ideology of Dr. Martin Luther King or Malcom X or somewhere in between, as a black person you wanted to obtain equal rights.  As Norman wrote in 1966 “A Man who is afraid to die for his freedom in already dead.”  That was the feeling of the Black Arts Movement.

     Read from Destination Ashes the poem “One for All,” as an example of radical poetry of BAM.  His first book, Destination Ashes was first published in our apartment using a mimeograph machine and staples.  The 2^nd publishing of it was by Creative Copy, a print shop in Cleveland, and the 3^rd and final printing was by Third World Press in Chicago that Don L. Lee AKA Haki Madubuti was owner of.

     In the latter part of the BAM, Norman and I became interested in making other more personal changes in our lives.  We both had been cigarette smokers, but we quite in our twenties, we both became vegetarians and began to practice yoga and meditation, his book Above Maya is more reflective of that time period.  Above Maya was written as an experiment.  Norman’s astrological sign is Leo and he had heard that a person is most creative during the month of their birth sign, so he wrote a poem every day during the sign of Leo (the latter part of July & beginning of August).  The poem “August 8’ is probably the most popular poem from Above Maya.

     Norman is the author of five books of poetry, two of them, Destination: Ashes, and Above Maya, were written and published during the BAM era.  His poetry from that period, and later, has been anthologized in more than forty books of African American and American literature and one in Swedish, and he had performed at many colleges and universities across the country and a wide variety of other venues including New York’s Apollo Theater.

     His most popular play is entitled “In the Last Days,” and was written during that time; it has been staged in several theaters including what they call Off-Off Broadway in the Bedford Stuyvesant area of New York.  He was writer in Residence for a year at Karamu House Theater and he won a United Nations Playwrights award in which he spent a week along with other awarded playwrights in New York observing plays, writing and interacting with each other.  A film about his life and poetry entitled “Dead Ends, New Dreams,” was made by Case Western Reserve University.  And it is for these reasons that his poetry is most associated with the BAM.   However, Norman, who was very proud of his association with the BAM has said that he was writing poetry before the protest poetry of the BAM (1960s & 70s), but after that he returned to writing poetry for his own enjoyment. 

     The late 1970s brought new and different experiences for Norman and I.  After a brief period of marital separation and both of us living in different parts of the country; he in Berkeley, California and me in Tuskegee, Alabama, we joined forces again, renewed our relationship, and after a few months of living, rehearsing, and performing in Baltimore, Maryland where Norman’s play “In the Last Days” was being staged, we moved to Ansted, West Virginia.  Why West Virginia?  As I said earlier, it was the place of Norman’s birth and where he spent his pre-teenage years, he still had relatives living there on property his family owned, and it was the perfect place to live the lifestyle that we both were becoming accustomed to as raw food vegetarians practicing yoga and meditation, trying to live a healthy, simple, creative, and uncomplicated life.

     In West Virginia, Norman and I soon began to connect with other artists and activists in the area.  We found that the African American community had interest in preserving their heritage, in receiving equal rights, in establishing their identity and having their accomplishments as African Americans living in Appalachia be recognized and appreciated.  We also saw that there was much to do in terms of preserving the rich heritage that African Americans had contributed to the state of West Virginia as a leading coal mining region.  In addition, we became aware of the lingering aspects of racism that stemmed from segregation and had had such a devastating impact on many of the African American residents. 

      We, especially Norman, began to work more closely with people who were trying to bring about change.  As Norman connected with the grassroots environment of the black community he also strengthened his ability to become more involved on other levels by going back to school and obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in the Fine Arts from West Virginia University and a Master of Arts degree in Black Studies from Ohio State University; both accomplishments and venues were instrumental in his acquiring new connections in the arts and African American history and culture in the state of West Virginia. After obtaining his degrees he worked as a Program Coordinator for the WV Dept. of Culture and History for about 10 years and he taught African American literature at WVU and Glenville State College as an adjunct professor.

     He connected with the West Virginia Writers organization, and interacted with poets and other literary people such as Kirk Judd, Phillis Moore, Daniel Boyd, Ed Cabbell, Joseph Bundy, Elaine Blue, Ancella Bickley, Crystal Good and others.  He became a member of the Affrillachian Poets and did readings at the Cultural Center, the John Henry Festival, and many other venues.  He was very proud of having been published in the anthology, Wild Sweet Notes: Fifty Years of WV Poetry, and also receiving the Martin Luther King Living the Dream Award from the West Virginia Governor’s Award Committee in the year 2000.

      I would say that while Norman was aware of social inequities in WV that he sought to address them in different ways than he had earlier.  In 1991, he and I founded the African American Heritage Family tree Museum, and in 1994, along with the United African American Artists of WV, which he was a member of, founded the Norman Jordan African American Arts & Heritage Academy for teenagers; a week long summer arts and cultural heritage academy, which is still operating today.  During this time he also started performing a characterization of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the person who started Black History Week in the 1920s, which eventually evolved to Black History Month.  His poetry, on the other hand, tended to reflect more of the beauty of the state itself and the comfort that he felt living here.  The two books that he published after being back in WV are Where Do People in Dreams Come From & Other Poems (2004), and Sing Me Different (2012).

     Sing Me Different represents a different style of writing poetry, which Norman felt that he created. Probably the last major new project that he worked on with others, was a book entitled African American Heritage at the New River Gorge National River.  It was produced by the National Parks Service and Norman was hired as a consultant and historian to interview African American residents still living in the New River Gorge area, then transcribe and interpret his findings.  Each of the 7 chapters begins with a poem that he wrote for that section of the book.  He really enjoyed working on that project especially meeting and interviewing the African American residents.

     I want to end by reading a poem and commentary that I wrote about him after he passed away.

     I’m still getting requests from people who want to publish his poems in upcoming books.

     Some of Norman’s books are available on Amazon.

Seeing the Real You

Tonight

I’m laying here thinking and remembering

Things my mind won’t let me forget

As I often do before sleep overtakes me

Things from the past of course

That’s what old folks do

Young folks daydream about the future

Makes sense I guess

For me lots of past

Not as much future left

I’m thinking about Norman

So much to remember about him but

This one thing I don’t want to forget because

It energizes me to think about it

As if I shared in that part of him

It was a privilege to be able to daily observe the activities and thought processes of a truly creative person.  He was a poet who saw poetry in everything; in every day, night, activity; Life.  Living and observing was a poetic drama that inspired him to see it clearly, play with it, and then interpret it to the rest of us in his writing and actions.  I could see that working within him up-close and from afar.  I write poetry, but I am not a poet; Norman was a poet.  His life was poetry and I am blessed to have been able to observe it.  Why am I writing this now – tonight?  Because, although I remember it still, I notice that the memory of it is not as distinct in my mind as it was six years ago when he passed away, and I don’t want to forget how lucky I was to have witnessed creativity in motion.

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Written by Hannah Johnson

            When considering the impact of the Second World War, it is easy to focus on statistics and figures on a global scale. Over 60 million lives – civilian and military – were lost between the summers of 1939 and 1945. The United States alone, despite entering the war in 1941, suffered an estimated 418,500 losses.² These figures can be described in a number of ways; staggering, overwhelming, perhaps even awe inspiring when one considers humanity’s capability for self-destruction. But they are also dehumanizing. In considering war on a global scale, the story of the individual is lost; and thus, their legacy as well.

            Robert ‘Bob’ Scott was twenty-two years old when he, along with the rest of his company, were ordered to take Busham, Germany, on February 27th, 1945.³ By nightfall the next day, February 28th, Scott would be dead. Through primary sources gathered and stored in the West Virginia and Regional History Center, the details of his heroic actions that day are preserved. But most students who attend WVU, the university Scott graduated from and went on to teach at, will never know of Robert Scott. Those who do recognize the name likely remember seeing it engraved on a plaque outside Oglebay Hall alongside dozens of others as they rushed to their next class. But Scott’s story is one of value, a testament to not only those who lost their lives in the Second World War, but also the impact of a single, devoted individual in a world that’s seemingly tearing itself apart. This blog will attempt to encapsulate the story of Robert Scott, his sacrifice, and the legacy he left behind for his peers to embody.

Born in 1922, Robert F. Scott Jr. was raised in post World War I America. Originally from Pennsylvania, he eventually ended up in Kanawha county, West Virginia.⁴ While little is known about his upbringing, it can be surmised from his own writings and those of his parents that he came from a loving family, and one that supported his later academic endeavors. Scott attended West Virginia University, graduating with the class of 1942 and obtaining his undergraduate degree.⁵  An important facet of his time at WVU, and one that would later immortalize his story, was his relationship with Dr. J Clark Easton. Mrs. Scott, Robert Scott’s mother, wrote to Dr. Easton after Scott’s death stating, “[Robert] worshiped you, Dr. Easton. You were a part of our family. It was Dr. Easton this and Dr. Easton that.”⁶ This excerpt, among others, indicates a clear admiration on the part of Scott in regards to his professor and later colleague.

            Throughout his time at WVU, Robert Scott not only obtained his degree, but also left a lasting impact within the History Department, particularly through his relationship with Dr. Easton. As most of the letters found in the WVRHC archives were correspondence between Dr. Easton and Scott, it is valuable to understand their relationship. After receiving news of Scott’s death, Dr. Easton wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Scott regarding their son and his passing. In this letter, Dr. Easton describes Scott not only as a pupil and peer, but as a dear friend. In regards to his academic endeavors, Dr. Easton notes, “Bob took every course I offered and was far and away my best student… his enthusiasm, industry, and intellectual grasp of historical subjects I have rarely seen equalled.”⁷ As this excerpt eloquently relates, Scott was an engaged, driven student that stood out among his peers.

When considering the loss of such a bright, promising individual, Dr. Easton goes on to write, “I cannot let this sad occasion pass without expressing to you my profound sympathy in your loss. We here in the History Department feel that we in part share this loss with you.”⁸ The loss of any young person is indeed a tragedy, but Dr. Easton’s words indicate a deeper sense of collective grief felt within the History Department and thus the University itself. Scott leaving such an impact, especially as someone as young and new to academia, indicates a connection to Dr. Easton and the University that went beyond a transcript and a diploma. It is important to keep this relationship in mind as the letters Dr. Easton and Scott exchanged are examined to not only piece together his story but also to retain a sense of the person that Scott was.

Another important aspect of Scott’s time at WVU, both as a student and a teaching assistant, was WVU’s involvement in the war effort as well as Scotts own decision to enlist. In broader context, West Virginia was a state that more than contributed to the overall war effort. As Belmont Keenly describes in “Soldiers and Stereotypes: Mountaineers, Cultural Identity, and World War II”, West Virginia “[ranked] fourteenth among the forty-eight states in terms of proportion of population who served. These figures put West Virginia in the top one-third of states as a percentage of the population who joined the Army. While many of these young men were drafted, many more chose to enlist.”⁹ West Virginia and her citizens were invested in the war effort, and this dedication logically bled over into higher education, considering that college age men were in the prime demographic to be drafted or to enlist.

An invaluable source regarding West Virginia University and its efforts during the Second World War is found in Dr. Easton’s own work, West Virginia University and the War, which was published in 1944.¹¹ This piece explores the various ways in which WVU participated in the war effort, including images of students with captions such as “The smiling young lady investigates the setting point of TNT,” descriptions of nursing and first aid training, and information on how Air Corp Cadets trained in the classroom and at the Morgantown Airport.¹² Through this source, an image of West Virginia University during this time comes into focus; a bustling campus, filled with not only dedicated students but also livened by the inner workings of service members in various stages of the pipeline that led to active duty and deployment.

Global context deepens our understanding of the changes WVU underwent during this time. By 1942 – the year Scott graduated from WVU – the war in Europe had undergone a number of significant developments. Not only had Germany invaded or allied with almost every nation on the continent – including the defeat of France and the near destruction of Poland – but the Eastern Front had also begun to play out as Germany set her sights on the USSR. The United States had also been pulled into the war despite all efforts to remain isolationist. The Empire of Japan had struck at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, unknowingly provoking the nation which would go on to be her undoing four years later.¹³ Thus, by 1943, the Pacific and European theaters were well underway, and the United States had become committed to not only the complete defeat of Nazi Germany but also of the Japanese Empire.

With all of this in mind, it’s understandable why a man in good health and in the position to serve, would enlist. Scott never mentioned in his letters why he traveled to Ft. Hayes on March 19, 1943, with the intention of enlisting in the Army. However, Keenly discusses a number of reasons that young men enlisted, expressing that, “While nationalistic fervor and delusions of military glory influenced a small number of West Virginians, many more found themselves joining the war effort for better economic opportunities and, in a few cases, because of the social pressure applied to young men to perform their patriotic duty.”¹⁴ This is to say, while it is plausible that Scott felt a duty to serve on moral or patriotic ground, it is also possible that he felt pressure – as so many others did – to enlist. Regardless of why, Scott’s enlistment on March 19 put him on a path that ended in Germany almost two years later.

            Upon enlistment, Scott was sent to Fort Knox. There are several letters from this time that provide insight into his activities and the conditions at Fort Knox. Writing Dr. Easton, Scott remarks, “The army with its usual efficiency and accuracy has sent the [lot] of us West Virginia Tank Destroyers to the wrong camp. We were supposed to go to Camp Hood but oddly enough they sent us to Fort Knox… It is a hell hole… I propose to be transferred.”¹⁵ Despite the mishap and Scott’s desire to be transferred, no such proposal was ever approved, and Scott would remain at Fort Knox for almost a year.

            In the same letter, Scott mentions Officer Candidate School (O.C.S.), and that his chances of becoming an officer were dwindling.¹⁶ With his transfer in limbo and his hopes of becoming an officer fading, Scott turned once again to academia. He writes, “I think I will go down to the Armored [unintelligible] Institute – which claims to offer high school and college courses – and offer my services… you have to do your best and get ahead in this army stuff or they will forget you completely.”¹⁷ In this excerpt, Scott demonstrates an understanding of his situation and the army he served in. He learned quickly that he had to make himself marketable. Unfortunately for Scott, it appears this opportunity was a dead end.

            His recounts of training at Fort Knox were honest and highlighted some of the challenges soldiers faced long before they reached the front lines. In a subsequent letter, Scott describes, “I am usually as tired as a soldier can be and that is plenty tired. We marched in 115° heat yesterday for 10 miles and lost many men on the way. I lasted by will power more than anything. It was very tough.”¹⁸ Not all was lost, however, as he goes on to write, “Had my first chance to lecture today… they asked for a ‘vol’ to give a talk on first aid… didn’t think so much of it, entirely impromptu, but I have been receiving compliments all day since. Guess my days as an assistant have not been wasted.”¹⁹ While he didn’t secure the position teaching college courses, Scott made use of his talents while serving at Fort Knox.

            In a third letter from 1943, Scott joked, “I am, fortunately, no casualty of the Battle of Fort Knox.”²⁰ In explanation of his absence, he elaborated that he had “been living in the field for three weeks,” indicating that training was beginning to escalate at Fort Knox.²¹ He also mentioned that he had passed the “O.C.S braid” and hoped that his blood pressure wouldn’t keep him from passing the physical.²² This comment indicates that officer school may not have been out of the picture for Scott.

             In a letter written to Dr. Easton in February of 1944, Scott not only confirmed that he would be attending O.C.S., but that he had undergone an operation that required him to return to Morgantown for “a couple of months recuperation period.”²³ While the specifics of the operation are unknown, Scott appeared to make a full recovery and proceeded with officer school as planned. One interesting inclusion in a later letter discusses a two week course that Scott participated in, centered around operating military vehicles from “jeeps to medium tanks”.²⁴ This is only a glimpse into the experiences that made up Scott’s time in the army prior to active deployment. In his preparation for war, he was introduced to a myriad of new skills and groups of people. Yet, a constant theme in his letters is a desire to return to WVU and the History Department. 

            This longing, coupled with idleness while remaining in the states, created a yearning to not only be involved in the activities of Morgantown, but also to join the fight. As Scott mentions at the end of a letter written in the summer of 1944, “You must write me and tell me how the summer goes with you. We know our plan until September or rather October 16 but after that who can say. I presume that if the invasion goes well we may go over about then. In a way I rather hope we do. Looks as if you may be much more right about the war. My prediction was 1945. Shows how conservative I am at 22.”²⁵ He expresses a perhaps confusing sentiment, a combination of longing for his life in Morgantown and a restlessness brought on by the escalation soon to come in the war. In over a year of army service, Scott had been stationed exclusively in the states. A desire to be ‘in the fight’ would be understandable if not expected from those who’d been stuck in basic training and officer school. What Scott didn’t know was that he’d soon be in the fight, one that would take his life less than a year later.

            Scott first arrived in Britain near the end of November, 1944.²⁶ His departure is briefly recounted in his final letter to Dr. Easton. He writes, “you seemed surprised about my sudden departure for merry England.”²⁷ As he’d written in the previous letter, Scott’s schedule had been uncertain beyond mid October. Serving as a lieutenant in F Company, 271st Regiment, 69th Division of the First United States Army, Scott was likely “billeted in Winchester Barracks” while stationed in Britain.²⁸ He wasn’t there for long. On January 20th, 1945, the 271st Infantry Regiment sailed across the channel, landing on snow covered Normandy beaches the next morning.²⁹ The Regiment entered Germany on February 10th, 1945, less than a month into their advance across the Western Front.³⁰ Their rapid pace was due to the prior engagements and Allied victories in Western Europe which allowed the Regiment to meet the front as it entered Germany.

Within his final letter, Scott not only recounts the beauty of the German countryside, but also describes his interactions with the German people. He jokes, “German hospitality is not what it might be. One would almost believe that they do not desire our presence here. Oh well… really a pretty good fight up here.”³¹ With this sentiment, Scott harks on an aspect of the war that is often overlooked, but was pivotal to a soldier’s experience; that being relations with civilians. It was hoped that the German population would be relieved to see the Allies, to be ‘liberated’ from the current Nazi regime. However, as many Allied soldiers discovered, the German population was at best apathetic. Denazification would be a challenge faced by the Allied powers for years after the war ended.³²

            These being some of Scott’s last written words regarding the war, the rest of his movements up until his death on February 28th, 1945, must be surmised from the records of the 271st Regiment and eyewitness accounts. The Regiment moved through Germany towards what would be their first attack on February 27th, 1945, with the objective of securing a supply route via Hellenthal-Hollerath road.³⁴ Higgins recounts that;

Company F, attacking Buschem and Honningen, was able to take half of Buschem before being pinned down by fire from nearby Honningen, and was ordered to hold its present position for the night… [G Company was then ordered to] close the gap between themselves and F Company. The Third Battalion was alerted that night, but not committed until next day. Next morning, E Company was committed to assist F Company, and the two companies cleared Buschem and went on to take Honningen. Two counterattacks were repulsed in the area.³⁵

            This excerpt encompasses not only the first attack that the 271st Regiment engaged in, but also the action in which Scott was killed. With a broad overview of the objective and the stakes, a better picture of the circumstances Scott and his men found themselves in comes together. In their first major engagement of the war, F Company was separated from the rest of the 271st Regiment and pinned down. While G Company attempted in vain to reach them, F Company was on their own. It was not until the next morning that E Company could assist them. Thus, on the morning of February 28th, 1945, Scott and his men felt a moment of relief. E Company had come to aid them in taking their objective despite the heavy resistance. But the price of that victory would be great, as it was for so many actions during the Second World War.

James Kidd, considered one of if not the last person to see Scott alive, sheds light on the specifics of their actions that day. In a letter to Dr. Easton he writes;

Lt. Robert. F Scott and I were commanding the leading platoons of an attacking company in a rapid advance… The men were having a difficult time climbing over the rough ground with a heavy load of ammunition. Enemy machine guns and ‘burp’ guns from our flanks made the going even tougher… I saw Bob about 75 yards to my right at the front of his platoon encouraging his men on… The last time I saw him alive he was turned half around, moving forward at the same time… shouted to his men something like, ‘Come on, can’t you keep up with me, an old man like me?’… The next day… I saw his body, lying at a cross road. It was a typical example of modern war, too terrible to describe for civilized beings.³⁶

            Kidd’s description of heavy resistance and machine gun fire line up with the report provided by Higgins. His recount also evokes a sense of detached loss so commonly found in the testimony of veterans. The death of Scott, while devastating, was considered ‘typical’. Kidd simply did not have the time or emotional bandwidth to fully process Scott’s passing at the time or perhaps even afterwards.

            A further description of Scott’s fate, one that sheds light on his character, is shared in a letter by Mrs. Scott to Dr. Easton. According to ‘a Major General’;

            The fighting from house to house was fierce. One of his men was seriously wounded and was lying in a sunken place in the road which was covered by machine gun fire and in danger of further injury. Without regard for his own safety Lt. Scott passed through the fire to the wounded man and when attempting to return with him was killed by machine gun fire.³⁷

            From this account, the circumstances of Scott’s death are even further understood. Not only had he been leading his men onto the road, but he had stopped and attempted to aid one of his comrades despite the immense peril of that action. His bravery and selflessness, even in his final moments, are something that no plaque or medal could ever adequately express. Genuine sacrifice on such a level defines the cost of the Second World War.

It could be argued that considering an individual’s experience in a global conflict does not give an accurate representation of the conflict’s true impact. That is to say, that one person’s story could not possibly define a war that claimed 60 million lives. And while Robert Scott’s story does not address every minute detail of the war or the geopolitics behind it, Scott’s story does encapsulate the tragedy of the Second World War. As James Kidd wrote, “[Scott’s] Silver Star commendation said something about ‘above and beyond the call of duty.’ Such is war.”³⁸ Such a statement supports the idea that Scott’s story, while heroic, was not uncommon. Thus, one man’s story may not define a war, but it can certainly aid in grasping the impact of the conflict on not just an individual but a family, community, nation, or perhaps the world.

            When considering legacy, it is often awards and accolades that first come to mind. And while Robert Scott was awarded a Bronze Star and the Silver Star, it feels hollow to remember a person purely based on the medals on their record.³⁹ Scott was more than just a couple pieces of commemorative metal. He was a promising academic, a loving son, and a brave soldier even in the face of death. As Dr. Easton fondly writes;

Bob was one of my best students and an unusually fine fellow, as you know, and I was much upset by his death. It is one of the great tragedies of war that so many young men of promise should have to make the supreme sacrifice at the beginning of careers that would have meant so much to them and to the world.⁴⁰

            Dr. Easton’s emphasis on unknown potential is an important one. What might Scott or the millions of others killed in the Second World War have gone on to do? It’s a difficult question, and one that will never have an answer. Once again, the tragedy of war can be encapsulated in the loss of a single, promising individual, because the unknown potential of all of the lives lost in the Second World War would be beyond comprehension. Robert Scott’s story then, is not one defined simply by loss, but by his unknown potential. And while it is easy to distance oneself from history, whether by the passage of time or changes in society itself, there are themes that are pervasive throughout all time. Especially in an era of uncertainty and division, it is important that stories like Scott’s continue to be told. To remind us that despite differences in lifestyle, political opinions, or simply distant zip codes, everyone has the potential to do something for the betterment of society… and that that potential can be stripped away in the blink of an eye. All of this to say, if you take anything from Robert Scott’s story, it should be that you don’t always know how long you have or where life will take you. It should be one’s goal, then, to explore that potential as fully and freely as one can. Because not everyone gets that chance, and we owe it to those who’ve laid down their lives for our freedom and safety to pursue that potential for the betterment of our university, our nation, and our society.

Notes

1.  “Robert F. Scott, Class of 1942”. West Virginia History OnView. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://wvhistoryonview.org/catalog/038857.

2.“Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II,” The National WWII Museum, accessed October 17, 2023, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/

Research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war.

3. John Higgins, “Trespass Against Them”: History of the 271st Infantry Regiment (Naumburg, Germany, 1945).

4. National Archives, World War II Army Enlistment Records.

5. “Robert F. Scott, Class of 1942”. West Virginia History OnView. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://wvhistoryonview.org/catalog/038857.

6. Letter from Mrs. Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, 1945.

7.  Letter From Dr. J.C. Easton to Mr. and Mrs. Scott, March 24, 1945.

8.  Letter From Dr. J.C. Easton to Mr. and Mrs. Scott, March 24, 1945.

9. Belmont C. Keenly, “Soldiers and Stereotypes: Mountaineers, Cultural Identity, and World War II,” (West Virginia University, 2009) p.44.

10. “Cover of, West Virginia University and the War’ by J.C. Easton, Associate Professor of History, West Virginia University”. West Virginia History OnView. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://wvhistoryonview.org/catalog/038857.

11. J.C. Easton, West Virginia University and The War.

12. J.C. Easton, West Virginia University and The War.

13. Gerhard Weinberg, A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II.

14. Belmont C. Keenly, “Soldiers and Stereotypes: Mountaineers, Cultural Identity, and World War II,” (West Virginia University, 2009) p.20.

15. First letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, p.1-2.

16. First letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, p.2.

17. First letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, p.2-3.

18. Second letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, p.1.

19. Second letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, p.2

20. Third letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, p.1.

21. Third letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, p.1.

22. Third letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, p.4.

23. Letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, February, 1944, p.1.

24. Vehicle training letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, 1944, p.1.

25.  Invasion letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, Summer, 1944, p.2.

26. Higgins, “Trespass Against Them.”

27. Final letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, February, 1945, p.1.

28. “Robert F. Scott, Class of 1942,” West Virginia History OnView; John Higgins, “Trespass Against Them”.

29. Higgins, “Trespass Against Them.”; John Grehan, Liberating Europe: D-Day to Victory in Europe, 1944–1945 (Barnsley, South Yorkshire: 2014) p.182.

30. Higgins, “Trespass Against Them.”

31. Final letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, February, 1945, p.1.

32. Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945 (New York: The Penguin Press, 2005), p.57.

33. “69th Infantry Division – The Fighting 69th”. US Army Divisions. Accessed December 12, 2023. https://www.armydivs.com/69th-infantry-division.

34. Higgins, “Trespass Against Them.”

35. Higgins, “Trespass Against Them.”

36. Letter from James Kidd to Dr. J.C. Easton, May 8, 1945, p.1.

37. Letter from Mrs. Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, April 30, 1945, p.1.

38. Letter from James R. Kidd to Dr. J.C. Easton, May 8, 1945, p.1.

39. Letter from James W. May to Mr. and Mrs. Scott, 1945, p.1.

40. Letter from Dr. J.C. Easton to James Kidd, May 23, 1945, p.1.

Bibliography

Easton, J.C., West Virginia University and The War. Morgantown: West Virginia University, 1944.

Final letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, February, 1945, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Final Report: 1951 Army ROTC Armored Summer Camp. Fort Belvoir; United States Army Publishing Directorate, 1951.

First letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Higgins, John. “Trespass Against Them”: History of the 271st Infantry Regiment. Naumburg, Germany;1945.

Invasion letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, summer, 1944, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

John Grehan, and Martin Mace. 2014. Liberating Europe: D-Day to Victory in Europe, 1944–1945. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=b388bcba-db0b-3ff2-aba0-7c1e15f812d5.

Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. New York: The Penguin Press, 2005.

Keenly, C. Belmont. “Soldiers and Stereotypes: Mountaineers, Cultural Identity, and World War

II.” PhD diss., West Virginia University, 2009.

Letter from Dr. J.C. Easton to James Kidd, May 23, 1945, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Letter from Dr. J.C. Easton to Mrs. Scott, May 7, 1945, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Letter from Dr. Easton to Mr. and Mrs. Scott, March 24, 1945, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Letter from James W. May to Mr. and Mrs. Scott, 1945, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Letter from James R. Kidd to Dr. J.C. Easton, May 8,1945, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Letter from James R. Kidd to Dr. Clark Easton, May 8, 1945, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Letter from Mrs. Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, 1945, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV, War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, February, 1944,  A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

National Archives. World War II Army Enlistment Records. Research Group 64. National Archives: Access to Archival Databases (AAD), 2002. Digital: https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=2&cat=WR26&tf=F&sc=24994,24995,24996,24998,24997,24993,24981,24983&bc=,sl,fd&txt_24995=Robert+Scott&op_24995=0&nfo_24995=V,24,1900&cl_24996=54&op_24996=null&nfo_24996=V,2,1900&cl_24998=039&op_24998=null&nfo_24998=V,3,1900&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=1141309&rlst=1141309,6038806.

“Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II,” The National WWII Museum. Accessed October 17, 2023. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war.

“Robert F. Scott, Class of 1942, West Virginia University, from St. Albas, W. Va.” West Virginia History OnView. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://wvhistoryonview.org/catalog/038857.

Second letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Third letter from Robert Scott to Dr. Clark Easton regarding Fort Knox, 1943, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Vehicle training letter from Robert Scott to Dr. J.C. Easton, 1944, A&M 2324, Easton WWII Material, WV War History Commission Recs, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Weinberg, Gerhard. A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2005.

“69th Infantry Division – The Fighting 69th”. US Army Divisions. Accessed December 12, 2023. https://www.armydivs.com/69th-infantry-division.

Written by Dee Elliott

For this post, the WVRHC is looking at some of our zine and LGBTQ+ holdings that have been processed to be included within the Center.  Within historical collections, the queer community is often underrepresented in their holdings, and even more so when it comes to transgender individuals being represented.  In the state of West Virginia, there are more and more transgender people that are constantly looking for representation in both media and history.  Elliott Stewart of Huntington, WV, provides this representation for not only teens, but anyone who lives or has grown up queer in Appalachia, an area notoriously difficult to identify as LGBTQ+ in.  Stewart runs Porch Beers Press, a zine-focused publication group that focuses on various topics like fandom, food culture, and growing up queer in Appalachia.  The WVRHC recently picked up a selection of publications from Porch Beers Press, providing a fascinating insight into what it’s like to grow up queer in Appalachia.  Stewart even provides an “unapologetically queer” transmasculine perspective within the zines, which is an underrepresented group of people within the LGBTQ+ community itself. 

Zines in general have been a popular way for people to create and distribute their thoughts on various topics or display their art in a non-traditional printed form.  The very first Zine dates to May of 1930, when fans discussed science and science fiction in a publication known as The Comet, created by the Science Correspondence Club.  Originally called “fanzines,” a combination of the words “fan magazine,” zines were used for this purpose, to talk about popular culture and early fandom.  In fact, some of this included some of these publications included the earliest fanfiction in popular culture, which was primarily about Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) through original adventures of the crew of the USS Enterprise created by fans of the show.  Later, as it became easier for people to print and distribute their own zines through various means, more publications concerning activism for feminism and LGBTQ+ rights and lives came about, the latter of which Elliott Stewart now often writes about today. 

Stewart’s collection isn’t the only set of zines within the holdings of the WVRHC.  In fact, there are zines being processed to be included in the collections, as well as existing collections of zines that had been donated to the library before Stewart’s collection.  Donated to the WVRHC by Bryan Richards in 2017, the Collection of West Virginia Zines (A&M 4283) reflects a set of West Virginia-based zines detailing art, poetry, music, and more.  Authors and artists like Liz Pavlovic, whose art can be seen on and across several businesses and public works across not just Morgantown, but the whole state of West Virginia and beyond, are featured within this collection.  In fact, the West Virginia Zine Collection has several digitized inclusions for perusal at the West Virginia and Regional History Center.  Also included within the collection is an article on the Morgantown Zine Festival from October of 2017.  There is also a collection of zines/underground press publications from Morgantown from 1991 to 1993, providing a fascinating look into the opinions of local authors on alternative music, movies, poetry, and more in the early 1990s. 

Elliott Stewart continues to make zines today, recently covering topics in Porch Beers Issue 6 like his personal history with mental illness, deep diving into maladaptive daydreams, domestic violence, and schizophrenia.  Zines like Stewarts allow a more personal, in-depth look into the feelings and thoughts of the author without having a publisher edit things too much.  You can find out more about Porch Beers Press and the work of Elliott Stewart at https://bqueenbandit.wixsite.com/porchbeers.  The West Virginia and Regional History Center continues to accept and process zine collections and hopes to expand their holdings for patron perusal and enjoyment! 

Written by Linda Blake

If you are a native West Virginian, as I am, you will have heard the jokes about being “sent to Weston” or “coming from Weston.” Everyone knew the Weston reference was to the Weston State Hospital. Like many people living in Weston, my aunt worked at the hospital. I have visited the hospital as a tourist many times since it became the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, but my first visit was in the 1970s when I was an education major at Glenville State College. We made a class visit to the Weston State Hospital and to a hospital in St. Mary’s, West Virginia, to see special needs populations. The memories of those visits have stayed with me some fifty years later.  

A new acquisition to the West Virginia and Regional History Center, “Lorilla Frances Bullard Tower, Doctor, Papers,” sheds light on the history of the Weston State Hospital, or as it was known when Dr. Lorilla Bullard was an Assistant Physician there, the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane. Dr. Bullard provided medical services to mentally ill women during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Her papers consist largely of photographs of the hospital, staff, and patients; correspondence regarding the employment of Dr. Bullard at the hospital; and papers on the treatment of the mentally ill at the turn of the 20^th century. This blog post will highlight just a few of the most interesting papers. 

The Weston State Hospital 

First, a bit of history of this state institution created to treat mentally ill patients who over the years were officially called “insane” and “lunatic,” the latter by the 1858 Virginia Legislature when it passed a law authorizing the start of building “The Lunatic Asylum West of the Alleghany Mountains.” Upon its completion and after West Virginia became a state in 1863, the hospital was named the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane which is the name of the hospital discussed in Dr. Bullard’s Paper, 1894-1904. Patients who originally resided in West Virginia but who were living in Virginia’s Western Hospital in Staunton were transferred to the new hospital in Weston. In 1913 the name was changed to the Weston State Hospital which remained its name until its closing in 1994. The current hospital called The Trans-Alleghany Lunatic Asylum is a tourist attraction with some parts open to the public. The building and grounds are monumental and of historical and architectural significance and the building and museum are well worth a visit.

Dr. Lorilla Bullard 

Lorilla Frances Bullard was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, on March 15, 1870. She and her sister Rachel both attended the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. After graduating, she moved in Oakland, Maryland where she settled for the rest of her life when she left the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane in Weston.  

She worked in Weston as one of two Assistant Physicians, 1896-1901. After serving a five-year term, Bullard requested another term. Her papers indicate that her bid for reappointment in 1901 was contentious with indications that it was because she was a woman. Letters of support for her reappointment came from West Virginia movers and shakers including the West Virginia State Medical Society, government administrators, state legislators, and other leaders of the Republican Party. Many of the letters express not just Dr. Bullard’s qualifications, but the efficacy of women being treated by women. A.B. White, President and Editor of The State Journal wrote: 

“A physician of her own sex is no longer denied in many progressive states to the unfortunates whose mental conditions require treatment at the asylum and no one better than a skillful woman could treat a woman thus afflicted. The very nature and condition of patients in many cases implies the need for women attendants of skillful hands and through medical training. Dr. Bullard meets these requirements admirably and I commend her to your most favorable consideration.”

J.K. Hall wrote of Dr. Bullard “…she stands high in her profession, has met with marked success at your institution, and is in every way deserving of re-appointment.”  

At about this time, 1902, Dr. Bullard married Edward Zealous Tower in Lewis County. The couple moved back to Maryland after she was not being reappointed at the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane. In Maryland. she was very active in local causes, including child welfare and the voting rights of women. She continued to be a licensed physician, but did not practice extensively, but she did work with the Red Cross and other civic groups until her death in 1963. According to one source, she was the only female doctor listed in Garret County in 1922. Dr. Tower was recognized in 2020 as a Maryland (Garret County) suffragist for “her work to empower women for social reform and suffrage.”  

Superintendent’s Scandal 

Dr. Bullard’s papers overall are fascinating and a great addition to the knowledge we have regarding the history of the State Hospital and the treatment of mental illness, specifically of women. Some items in the collection which may be of special interest to researchers include a letter from a lawyer detailing the legalities of women doctors for the insane, photographs of the inner workings of the huge building, notes on the treatment of four women, and photographs of Black patients and workers.  

I found one item particularly intriguing: the January 23, 1900 edition of the Weston Independent newspaper with an article regarding the Hospital’s Board hearing on the termination of Dr. W.E. Stathers as the Superintendent at the Hospital. He was charged with inappropriate relationships with women, both patients and staff. An August 19, 1899 newspaper article now online provides background details of accusations against Dr. Stathers as well as testimony discrediting witnesses. Dr. Bullard was mentioned as caring for Harriet Green, one of Stathers’ accusers, and testified regarding Harriet Green’s attempted suicide and to rumors about Green and Stathers.  After the hearing, the Board did not dismiss Stathers, but according to the 1900 newspaper article included in the collection, various newspapers and the general public lobbied for Stathers’ dismissal.  He finally did resign in 1901, which to some was an admission of guilt, but the Board was slow to find a replacement.  An editorial in The Argus called Stathers “the old reprobate.” Another newspaper editorial in the Farmers Advocate said the Board’s reluctance to dismiss Stathers and its subsequent inability for months to hire a replacement was “a disgrace intolerable.” 

So, Dr. W.E. Stathers kept his job after abusing his position of power over women in his employ and women disabled by mental illness. Conversely, Dr. Lorilla Bullard, who cared for the health needs of those same mentally ill women, was not allowed to keep her job.  Could it have been because she was a woman practicing in a male-dominated profession? 

To see the photographs, correspondence, and other papers of Dr. Lorilla Bullard, make an appointment to visit the West Virginia and Regional History Center.  

WVU Facilities has planned a steam outage for the Downtown Library and other downtown buildings for Monday and Tuesday, December 18 and 19. Consequently, the Downtown Library will be closed to the public for part of that time. The Library will be open Monday, December 18, from 8 a.m. to noon. It will be closed Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday, December 19. The Library will resume normal intersession hours – 8 a.m.-5 p.m. – on Wednesday, December 20. Please check the Libraries’ website for updated operating hours.

Written by Colleen Benison, Rare Book Room Intern

Just a few months ago, I had never so much as heard the name Asimov.

While I wouldn’t call myself an aficionado, I’ve always liked science fiction. I grew up on classics like Star Wars and The X-Files and have more recently explored modern takes on the genre like Black Mirror and Everything Everywhere All At Once. I spent a couple of months in high school reading science fiction short stories, impressed by the way they made my mind run laps trying to figure out whatever speculation of alternate life or future technology they proposed. I still sprinkle in science fiction to my regular reading diet here and there with novels like Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Now, after processing a collection of science fiction works as an intern with the Rare Book Room, I finally know what I’ve been missing.

What I had never known while I was consuming all these stories was that, during the boom of the science fiction genre in the 20^th century, one man led the way.

According to Isaac Asimov, “Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology.” Science fiction peaked in the mid-20^th century thanks to the contributions of writers like Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Bradbury. Asimov, however, was one of the most prominent and the most prolific science fiction authors of this time. From the onset of his writing career in 1939 to the end of his life in 1992, he had written, edited, and published more than 600 titles—most of which relate to science and science fiction. His most famous works include his Galactic Empire series, his Foundation series (the original trilogy of which earned him the Hugo Award for “Best All-Time Series” in 1966), and his Robot series. He not only brought scientific thinking to an audience of millions, but he also challenged people to expand their conception of the human experience to include the consequences of scientific and technological advancement.

Asimov’s work laid the groundwork for modern science fiction storytelling and pervades scientific thinking to this day. The concepts he developed, such as robotics and psychohistory, have inspired innumerable thinkers and creators. For example, his iconic “Three Laws of Robotics,” included in I, Robot in 1950, serve as the basis for discussions about robotics, influence portrayals of robots in media, and shape modern notions of the ethics of artificial intelligence.

My internship with the Rare Book Room during the Fall semester of 2023 introduced me to Isaac Asimov and his massive impact on society. I was tasked with processing a personal collection of books gifted to the Rare Book Room by avid reader and dedicated collector Larry Miller. This collection of 172 books and comics sheds light on the overarching, interconnected themes of readership and authorship. But because it centered around the writing of Isaac Asimov, it also emphasized the influence his writing had on other authors, the genre of science fiction, the literary world, and society as a whole.

I have curated a library exhibit based on the work I’ve done to carry the collection through the library’s gift processing procedure. This exhibit of 5 display cases features a selection of the books, comics, and personal correspondence that best represent the collection. Anyone interested in learning more about Isaac Asimov and the rest of this collection is encouraged to stop by the second-floor atrium of the Downtown Library to view the exhibit.

In addition to allowing me to exercise my rhetorical skills and creativity, this internship experience has inspired me to delve further into science fiction media. With boundless advancements in technology and the recent rise of artificial intelligence, science fiction has never been more relevant. Maybe if we dig deeper into the historical influences of modern science fiction, we can be better prepared for the future.

Resources:

• Photo of Asimov: The Deadline: “Coping With COVID-19 Crisis: The Mysterious Bookshop’s Otto Penzler On Bearing Up In Face Of NYC Shutdown” by Mike Fleming, Jr. Posted on March 20, 2020. https://deadline.com/2020/03/covid-19-crisis-the-mysterious-bookshop-owner-otto-penzler-new-york-city-shutdown-1202888980/ 
• Collection photo by author

This post was written by Devon Lewars and Erica Uzak.

“Born of Rebellion: WV Statehood and the Civil War,” a traveling exhibit established by the West Virginia Humanities Council, has made its way to the Downtown Library’s Rockefeller Gallery. Civil War historians and WVRHC GAs Erica Uszak and Devon Lewars will be sharing their first impressions of the exhibit.

When visiting, take note of the suggested panels to follow. See exhibit directory below.

Each section title is a quote taken from the diary of Sirene Bunton, a teenager at the time, she lost two of her brothers to the conflict.

See Devon’s favorite panel below:

This panel engages visitors by asking them to choose what the state should have been called if “West Virginia” wasn’t an option. Magnets are provided to visualize votes for each alternative name. Stop by the second floor to cast your own!

The panels have been designed to showcase different perspectives of the conflict which can be seen by shifting your body to each side of the panel board. See below two different perspectives of the same panel:

“Born of Rebellion” utilizes a variety of sources that highlight the voices of women, African Americans, and Virginians/West Virginians. See for yourself the beautiful details that were put into this exhibit by visiting the downtown library through the first week of December!

The above section was written by Devon Lewars.

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President Abraham Lincoln came to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863, tasked with giving “a few appropriate remarks” in a dedication paying tribute to those U. S. soldiers laid to rest in the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. He began his address by reminding the audience of the nation’s core principles found in the Declaration of Independence, which stated that “all men are created equal.” He concluded his address by pledging “increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion,” and an increased commitment to the soldiers and the ideas found in the Declaration, promising that “these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

A few months earlier, on June 20, West Virginia had been granted statehood into the United States, breaking free from the seceded Confederate state of Virginia. West Virginia’s involvement in the Civil War and its statehood are discussed in the new exhibit, “Born of Rebellion.” This exhibit explores the war’s beginning and the importance of slavery at the heart of the conflict, military action in West Virginia, the political statehood process, Black West Virginians, Union and Confederate West Virginia women, and the commemoration and memory of the war in the state. The exhibit condenses many complicated details and presents the war in an accessible way. It does not shy away from the issue of slavery and discusses the hardships that enslaved people faced in slavery and the continued struggle for freedom after emancipation. One of the most moving aspects of the exhibit are the enlarged photographs of men, women, and children, who look directly at the viewer. Most striking is the photograph of the young children in the Lincoln school in Wheeling, which “was one of the first publicly funded educational institutions for Black children in the state,” according to the exhibit. It adds that these schools did not have the same state funding as all-white schools. Many schools stayed racially segregated until 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that “separate but equal” was “inherently unequal.” One of the panels about Black West Virginians concludes, “In many ways, the fight for equality has been nearly as difficult as the antebellum struggle against slavery,” as they fought against racism, discrimination, and white violence.

While the road to full freedom and equality for all would be treacherous and long, many West Virginians fought for the “new birth of freedom” that Lincoln had promised. They renewed their commitment to independence and freedom in their state motto: Montani Sempre Liberi – Mountaineers are always free.

The above section was written by Erica Uzak.

Written by Stewart Plein, Curator of Rare Books & Printed Resources

My mother loved holidays and she celebrated all of them. There would be a cherry pie for Washington’s Birthday, back when it was its own holiday, one of those miniature flags stuck in our breakfast toast for the Fourth of July, and sugar cookies for all the holidays in every shape imaginable from Easter bunnies, to shamrocks, turkeys, and Christmas Trees. 

But Halloween seemed to be her favorite. She’d decorate the house with vintage Halloween decorations from her youth. Black cats against orange moons, witches on broomsticks and those fold out tissue papers pumpkins and of course, jack ‘o lanterns. That’s why, when I saw a children’s magazine from 1919 specifically dedicated to Halloween, I bought it and gave it to her.

The magazine was called John Martin’s Book. Published by Morgan van Roorbach Shepard, under the pen name of John Martin, the magazine was aimed at children between the ages of five and eight. The magazine ran for twenty years and sold for 10 – 50 cents an issue over its long run. Stories and illustrations by popular authors, like children’s author Thornton Burgess, known for his Old Mother West Wind series, and illustrators, such as Johnny Gruelle, best known for Raggedy Ann and Andy, filled its pages. 

Not surprisingly, the Halloween issue is filled with black cats and jack o’lanterns. From the front cover, to the title page, to the story of cats who lost their tales, black cats were the dominate feature of this Halloween issue.

There was even a card that could be cut out and colored to be given to a friend or a parent.

Finally, there were advertisements marketed to children and aimed at their parents. For example, this ad for Swift & Co. breakfast meats ensures children would ask for the ham and bacon advertised just like kids today ask for McDonald’s chicken nuggets. The ad for Steinway Pianos had its own song. Of course, you have to ask your parents for a Steinway piano to play it!

I hope you enjoyed this look back at Halloween 104 years ago.

Happy Halloween!

Resources

• John Martin and John Martin’s Book: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martin’s_Book
• John Martin’s Book October 1919: author’s copy
• Photos by the author