The first West Virginia University women’s basketball team began its first season in 1973. The team members were Suzie LeFever, Lynn Buckley, Lisa Weisenstein, Sara Roberts, Cheryl Puskarich, Beth Shank, Carolyn Huffman, Cindy “Sam” Booth, Michelle Jaccar, Jo Salisbury, Pam Harper, Leslie Sergy, Celeste Knaus, and Jo Nutter.
First WVU Women’s Basketball team, 1974 Monticola
The team was the result of Title IX mandates. Title IX is a landmark U.S. federal civil rights law enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX ensures that students, regardless of their gender, have equal access to educational opportunities, including sports, academic programs, and extracurricular activities. Through its enforcement, Title IX has played a crucial role in fostering a more equitable educational environment, promoting fairness, and breaking down barriers for women and marginalized groups in education and athletics.
During their first season, the team played 10 local games scheduled by first head coach Kittie Blakemore and participated in the West Virginia State Tournament for 14 games. Blakemore would remain as head coach for 19 seasons, leading the team to a conference tournament championship in the A10 in 1989, and a first-place finish in the regular season in her final season, 1992.
WVU 1973-74 Game Schedule, 1974 Monticola
Though the team only won four of those first games and placed fourth in the State Tournament, they came back stronger the next season, winning 13 of their 17 games.
WVU 1974-75 Game Schedule, 1975 Monticola
Kittie Blakemore is most notable for spearheading the formation of what would later become the Women’s Athletics program at WVU, alongside Dr. Wincie Ann Carruth. A highlight of the collection is the original, “Proposal for an Intercollegiate Athletic Program for Women,” at WVU from 1972. You can learn more about the first head coach of the WVU Women’s Basketball team and West Virginia University women’s athletics trailblazer, Kittie Blakemore, by viewing the Kittie Blakemore Papers (A&M 5274) at the West Virgina & Regional History Center.
During the hurricane season of 1985, a tropical cyclone called Hurricane Juan moved along the coast of Louisiana and Florida before moving north. Spawning from Hurricane Juan, another storm system brought more rain. The already saturated soil could not absorb more water when the storm stalled over areas of West Virginia.
In late October of 1985, these storms resulted in extreme flooding in West Virginia, as most of the state’s urban areas are along flood plains. River gauge stations recorded 100-year flood events along the Potomac and Monongahela river basins andthe 4th and 5th flood plains saw flash flooding, washing away topsoil and trees. Soon, over 13,000 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. In some towns, flooding rose to the second story of buildings.
Two people observing the damage around them on West Virginia Route 72, Rowlesburg, W. Va.Debris and Damage on the Blackfork Railroad Bridge near Parsons, W. Va.
In Weston, the incomplete Stonewall Jackson Dam spared a large amount of flooding other towns saw. Reports came in that the dam had broken, and residents began preparing for the worst. Thankfully, the dam hadn’t broken. While the town still sustained damage from the floods, the dam helped reduce it. It’s estimated the flooding resulted in $700 million in damage and 38 deaths across the state.
Out of the 55 counties in West Virginia, President Ronald Reagan declared 29 disaster areas. Boil-water advisories were put out, and several of these areas had no access to clean water. In what are now known as the “Election Day Floods” or “Killer Floods,” several rivers reached 10 to 15 feet above the flood stage.
Meanwhile, Rowlesburg, Glenville, Marlinton, were some of the towns hit the hardest, and Pendelton and Grant counties saw the largest loss of life. In total, rising water and mudslides blocked 800 roads and bridges and isolated communities.
Vettle And Thelma Lipscomb stand at doorway to thier lost home in St. George
In response, WVU mobilized resources and the Office of Institutional Advance worked to provide relief. The University gave employees notice of the ability to take time off to volunteer November 11-15 and at least 16 full- and part-time staff and faculty from WVU Libraries volunteered to provide flood relief. During this disaster, there was a clear sense of community, as people rallied to help in any way they could.
From the Office of Institutional Advancement, relief volunteers from WVU aid in clearing mud.
After the flooding, several features were implemented to mitigate future flooding, including levees, river monitoring, and more communication towers. 40 years later, flooding like that of the 1985 Floods has not occurred again in West Virginia. People still remember the floods as one of the state’s most tragic events, but they also remember how people came from all over the state to help one another. That kind of support is not easily forgotten
When I first started working at the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC) in September 2023, I noticed a picture hanging on the wall next to the staff offices. As I worked longer and longer, my fascination with the picture grew. It depicts three people in what is said to be mining safety equipment. But it honestly has quite an eerie look.
The only information I knew going into this research was that it was taken in front of Mechanical Hall around 1912 – 1913. After looking at the WVRHC’s collections, I found that this picture was originally in the 1976 bicentennial collection. There are also additional versions of this image; one is a digitized version on WV OnView and the facsimile on the wall of the WVRHC.
The Bicentennial Collection includes various other original photographs of WVU buildings and students. The Bicentennial Collection is a smaller part of a larger collection, A&M 5188, that contains various other WVU themed original photographs throughout the history of the University. Visitors can look at turn of the century images of WVU students, classrooms, and other buildings around campus! Visitors can look at original images of the WVU horticulture building, science labs and stations, and pictures of WVU’s grounds from the 1890s.
When I looked closely at the picture, I found that ‘Draeger’ was printed on the equipment. After doing some research, I found a German company and their website states they were founded in 1889 by Johann Henrich Dräger. In the early 20th century, the Draeger company went to the St. Louis World’s Fair to exhibit their new company. Furthermore, the company explained their early involvement in the creating and distributing of mining safety equipment and the prevalence of Draegermen, a term commonly used in North America. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Draegerman as “one of a crew trained for underground rescue work.” The Draeger company explained further how Draegermen reached a point of such great notoriety that they were featured in a Superman comic. There was also a movie called Draegerman Courage that was released in 1937 by Warner Brothers. A special edition of Theatre News describes the story of a group of Draegermen who are tasked with rescuing miners who are stuck in a collapsed mine.
The Draeger website explains how they opened the Drager Oxygen Apparatus Co. in New York but would move to Pittsburgh a few years after the turn of the century. This is likely where the equipment in the photo was acquired.
According to the Draeger website, the apparatus that the people on the left and right side of the picture are wearing is the Draeger model 1904/1909 Breathing Apparatus. This was a critical piece of machinery for the use of mine rescuing in the years after its release. The Draeger company conducted their own breathing experiments when designing the Drager Model 1904/1909 Breathing Apparatus. After much research, I was unable to conclusively identify what specific kind of mining equipment the middle person is wearing. “Draeger” is not written on that piece of equipment, so it is unclear if that is also a Draeger piece of mining safety apparatus.
The WVRHC has several other WV OnView images of both mining safety apparatus and general mining equipment. One of those images depicts a mine rescue crew standing in front of their van.
There is also another image that shows the van and associated equipment without the rescue miners in the image. Additional mining equipment can be viewed on the WVRHC’s website.
As I was conducting this research I began to think about the story behind the image. Who took this picture? Why did they take it? In my opinion, there are two likely options to this question. First, the people in the image decided to take a funny picture of themselves wearing this equipment, possibly taken by another friend. Either that, or it was taken by a member of the faculty after the students had a class about the use of this equipment. Either way, it’s a fascinating image with an even more fascinating history behind it.
If you want to conduct research at the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC), but aren’t sure how to use the microfilm, don’t worry. We can help you! The WVRHC has six microfilm units that are open to the public without any need to set up an appointment. Not only does the WVRHC have a vast collection of newspapers available to view on microfilm, but we also have other public records and some of our artifact and manuscripts collections to view. Most of those microfilm reels are available on large metal shelves behind the microfilm units. We can help you find anything you need.
Some of the items in our collection are microfilms and the images below show what search results will look like when you find something in our collection that is either all microfilm or has both microfilm and paper originals.
If you who want to use microfilm for the first time, you might be wondering what it is and why archives have documents on microfilm. Microfilm are multiple documents photographed and placed onto reels. Not only can many more documents be stored in a smaller amount of space, but it also protects fragile artifacts from unnecessary touching and manipulation.
The microfilm reader is a large machine located next to each of the computers. There is a camera overtop of the glass plate that reads the small pictures on the microfilm and projects them onto the computer. The computer has a program installed that allows the images to be viewed. There are two cylindrical white pieces of plastic that hold down the microfilm and rotate left and right depending on if you are moving the microfilm forward or backward. There is a glass plate that slightly lifts when you pull the metal handle of the microfilm forward. This helps keep the reel flat and in place. The microfilm reader operates by moving the microfilm from the original reel under the camera and onto another reel that is attached to the machine.
After registering and signing in at the front desk, you can venture into the back of the WVRHC where the microfilms are stored. Login information will be available on a piece of paper next to the computer. When you login, the microfilm program should automatically pop up. The reel should be placed on the metal bar on the left side of the microfilm machine, and the microfilm should be gently pulled under the white cylindrical pieces and underneath the glass plate. Push the glass plate so it is fully underneath the camera. This glass plate can be moved around to see the entirety of your document.
Once you’re logged in and the microfilm is on the machine, the software may ask you to pick between simple, standard, and advanced mode. Which one you pick is completely up to you.
Now you’re ready to look at your materials!
You might need to adjust the various settings to make the newspaper or other material you are viewing, more legible. The rotate, flip, and mirror buttons can be used to manipulate the image in case it is backwards or mirrored. Under the browsing tab, the adjust light levels can make the document lighter or darker. If after adjusting everything the document is still fuzzy, the camera focus in and out buttons can be used. The digital zoom button can be used to bring the image closer or farther away to make the writing more legible.
At the bottom of the screen, the gray left and right arrow buttons move the documents forward. The red arrows on either side of the gray buttons allow the viewer to move the documents forward quickly. These red buttons are useful when moving the microfilm back to the original reel, which is something you will need to do when you’re finished viewing your document.
If you find something interesting and want to save an image of the document to review later, you will need to save it to a flash drive. But don’t worry! The front desk has flash drives you can use.
All you need to do is click on the ‘Addition Tool’ under cropping and select the article or section you want to save. This means you will need to draw a box around the section you want to save.
In the bottom left corner, click ‘Capture Cropped Area’ and it will save to the bar on the bottom of the screen.
After that, just click on the ‘Save to USB’ button on the top left corner. It’s right next to the ‘Addition Tool’ button you already used. Now your document is saved. After, you can then transfer those images to your own device, email them to yourself, or ask for assistance with emailing them. If you used one of the WVRHC’s flash drives, you should return it to the front desk after you’re done.
You can also use your own flash drive if you have one with you.
When you are all done looking at the microfilm just click on the left, red arrow button that moves the microfilm paper to the left and hold that button until all the microfilm is back onto the original reel. Put the reel back in the box and place that box on the wood cart so we can restack the microfilm for you. Feel free to browse as many microfilms as you want!
by Cat Melillo, Archives Processing Assistant, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC)
In the 1980s, Moundsville, WV’s Hare Krishna community, New Vrindaban, was home to the state’s only elephant.
You may have heard of New Vrindaban, the Palace of Gold, and the many controversies surrounding its original leader, Swami Bhaktipada. If you haven’t, let’s just say it involved arson, money laundering, a massive fraud scheme, two murder conspiracies, and a federal indictment.
Palace of Gold, mid 1980s.
Setting aside the grislier details, did you know that in its heyday, the hills of rural Moundsville were home to a two-ton elephant imported from India? That’s right, the first Asian elephant imported into the U.S. in more than 30 years was a four-year-old female named Malini in 1986. At the time, she was the only elephant in the state of West Virginia.
Malini performing in a procession, undated.
Elephants are considered an auspicious animal in Hindu culture. New Vrindaban leadership spent two years cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get her to Moundsville. To prepare for her arrival, the devotee who would serve as her primary caregiver took a five-week training course in advanced elephant care at the San Diego Zoo. The two quickly formed a bond, and Malini became beloved in the community and a huge draw for tourists.
Malini performed tricks such as bowing, balancing on a stand, offering flower garlands in parades, and waving a yak-tail whisk used in religious ceremonies. While employed in religious processions and festivals, she was lavishly decorated with jewels, fabrics, and paint. The devotees even brought Malini to their protests outside the Marshall County Courthouse and the West Virginia Penitentiary.
Malini balancing on a stand, undated.
Visitors would travel from all over West Virginia and the surrounding states to catch a glimpse of the Palace of Gold and its elephant. In fact, Malini was so popular, a plan was made to import an additional 34 elephants for use in religious pageants, as well as other exotic animals including Bengali tigers. Plans were drawn for the elephants to be housed in an area under the Palace of Gold, although thanks in part to the commune’s growing legal troubles, this underground elephant bunker was never completed.
At the height of its tourism success, Swami Bhaktipada dreamed of expanding New Vrindaban to a second location just outside the New Jersey capital city of Trenton. The new community would house upwards of 12,000 residents, and the only way in or out would be by elephant-towed canal boats. And who was to build this new City of God? Why, none other than developer tycoon, Donald Trump! For better or worse (probably better), this plan never came to fruition.
New York Post headline, 1987.
Although there are no longer elephants, you can still travel to Moundsville and visit the original Palace of Gold (under new leadership). Day trip anyone?!
Sources:
Doktorski, Henry, Compiler. Records regarding Kirtanananda Bhaktipada Swami and the New Vrindaban Commune, A&M 4646. West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries. Morgantown, West Virginia. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/resources/7046
“Imported Elephant Represents Another West Virginia First.” The West Virginia Advocate [Capon Bridge, WV], 4 Aug. 1986, p. 32.
MacDonald, Glenn and Norman, James. “Hare Trumpna!” New York Post, 14 Nov. 1987.
by Ashley Brooker, Archives Processing Specialist, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC).
West Virginia Travel Development Division posters with the Wild, Wonderful West Virginia slogan, circa 1969-1977. From A&M 2862, Governor Arch Moore Papers.
If you have driven through the state, then you have likely seen the state slogan on highway signs—Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. But did you know that this year is roughly the 50-year anniversary of the slogan?
This slogan originated during Governor Arch Moore’s first term in the 1970s. The phrase was created by an ad agency, most likely the Robert Goodman Agency in in Baltimore, Maryland, which Governor Moore used during his campaigns. This phrase quickly became popular in the state, and the Moore administration started using it in brochures and other state paraphernalia. In January 1970, the administration updated the state magazine from “Outdoor West Virginia” to “Wonderful West Virginia.” By 1975, it was on highways signs, and in 1976 it appeared on license plates for West Virginia’s bicentennial.
The 1969 December issue of Outdoor West Virginia, the last issue with that name, and the 1970 January issue of Wonderful West Virginia from A&M 2862, Governor Arch Moore Papers.A Wild, Wonderful West Virginia A to Z brochure, circa 1970, from Governor Arch Moore Papers. A 1976 bicentennial license plate with the Wild, Wonderful slogan on it.
While the “Wild, Wonderful West Virginia” slogan has always been popular with residents, it fell out of favor with succeeding governors. The slogan only adorned roadway signs from 1975 until 1991. From 1991 until 2005, there were no slogans used on highways. Then in 2005, Governor Joe Manchin implemented the “Open for Business” slogan, which wasn’t well received.
In 2007, the residents of West Virginia had a chance to vote for our state slogan. Residents had three choices to vote for: “Wild, Wonderful West Virginia,” “Almost Heaven,” and “The Mountain State.” The slogan “Wild, Wonderful” beat out the others with 57.5% of the vote and has since then adorned roadway signs and state paraphernalia.
After 50 years, West Virginia is now widely associated with its slogan. It can be found everywhere in the state, from signs to merchandise, and it most likely won’t disappear anytime soon.
A Wild, Wonderful West Virginia enamel pin from A&M 4050, Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV papers.
Turnbull, Andrew. “West Virginia “Map” Bases: A Primer, 1976-1995 – The Andrew Turnbull License Plate Gallery.” The Andrew Turnbull Network: A Portal to Hopelessly Disparate Topics. https://www.andrewturnbull.net/plates/westvirginia.html.
Wild, Wonderful West Virginia posters featuring Glade Creek Grist Mill and Cass Railroad, 1969-1977, Box: II.H. – 19. Governor Arch A. Moore Jr. papers, A&M.2862. West Virginia and Regional History Center. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/233137
West Virginia wild and wonderful pin, undated. Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV papers, A&M 4050. West Virginia Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/resources/1
Blog post by Andrew T. Linderman, Reference Assistant, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC).
Kids say the darndest things and do some pretty goofy stuff. And today’s consumer-based society lends itself particularly well to the childhood fad of collecting useless kitsch. Personally, I — and much of the youth of the early 2000s — collected Tamagotchi, Pokémon, Furbee, Beanie Babies, Mighty Beanz, Hit Clips, and a handful of other plastic toys that now likely find themselves off-gassing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a quarter of the way down your local landfill.
But what did this childhood pastime look like before, at a time in America when the youth of the country weren’t bombarded with advertisements for sports gambling apps or using ChatGPT to write their essays while playing with their fidget spinners? In the paraphrased words of John Hammond, “My dear reader, welcome…to pre-Great Depression America!”
Dominion News , September 28, 1934
Earl Core’s “The Monongalia Story” is a treasure trove of information relating to the history of Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is a source that I’ve personally used countless times in my academic career and now operates as one of my go-to sources for questions surrounding historical events in-and-around Morgantown, West Virginia.
Recently, while assisting a West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) visitor, I came across a brief entry in the fifth volume of Core’s “The Monongalia Story” that simply reads, “Donkey baseball featured the eleventh Battelle District Fair, at Wadestown (Dominion-News, Sept. 28, 1934).”1
Donkey baseball, as it turns out, was a pretty popular sport during the 1920s and throughout the 1930s. Popular enough to have Hollywood movie studio MGM produce the 1935 “An Oddity Donkey Baseball” directed by John Waters (no, not that John Waters).
The rules were simple. Everyone was on a donkey, excluding the catcher, pitcher, and the batter. If the batter got a hit, he then mounted his donkey before rounding the bases. Players in the field had to dismount their donkeys to field the ball but needed to remount their donkey before throwing the ball to a baseman.
That’s donkey baseball. Now, I’m already on board, but if you need more convincing there is this — the donkeys didn’t especially appreciate the sport and often simply refused to move. Other times, while batters were striking out at the plate, donkeys were striking out at players. Donkeys kicking players, bucking riders, and biting bystanders seems to be just part of the game, with one game in Georgia ending in more players injured than runs scored.2
Unfortunately, the sport of donkey baseball seems to have faded with the advent of the Great Depression. With most Americans struggling to find work, the luxury of mounted baseball just wasn’t worth the price of admission. Which brings us to our next fad. What if I could offer you all the excitement of donkey baseball minus the $0.25 entrance fee? I bring you…pole sitting. This may be familiar to some readers because there is that one episode of M*A*S*H, but for the uninitiated, the concept is even easier to grasp than donkey baseball.
Step 1: Find a pole, preferably one that has some sort of perch on the top.
Step 2: Climb the pole and sit on top of it for a period of time.
Step 3. ?
Step 4. Profit
An Icon of Simeon Stylites the Elder and Simeon Sylites the Younger foreshadowing the popularity of pole sitting with the youth.
I know I said, “minus the $0.25 entrance fee,” but it didn’t start off as a cash grab. The stoic and refined art of pole sitting can be traced to the Byzantine Empire and the stylite or “pillar-saint.” The most famous of which being Simeon Stylites the Elder who climbed a pillar in Syria in 423 and decided he liked it enough to stay for the next 36 years until his death.3
However, the most famous pole sitter of the 20th century was stuntman and former sailor Alvin “Shipwreck” Kelly. Alleged to have survived five shipwrecks, two airplane crashes, three automobile accidents, and one train wreck, Kelly claims to have made his pole sitting debut at the age of seven. However, his fame truly came in 1924 after sitting atop a pole for 13 hours and 13 minutes, either from a dare from a friend or as a publicity stunt.4 Kelly had no idea what he had started.
Kelly’s record was quickly broken, so in 1926, he sits atop a flagpole in St. Louis for 7 days and one hour. In June 1927, in Newark, New Jersey, he attempts to best himself at 8 days. He stays for 12 and someone breaks that record. In 1929, in Baltimore, Maryland, he stayed for 23 days. Again, Kelly’s record is broken. In 1930, atop a flagpole 225 feet high on the top of Atlantic City’s Steel Pier, he stayed 49 days and one hour.
Kelly was said to have nourished himself mainly on a diet of coffee and cigarettes. If you’re wondering how he slept, he allegedly trained himself to sleep upright and would insert his thumbs into holes atop the pole so that if he began to drift off the pole, the pain caused by his thumbs being nearly broken would awaken him.
At his peak, Kelly toured cities across America, charging admission to see him sit on a pole and earning income through endorsements and book deals. This level of popularity then translated to children across America, climbing poles and charging locals a viewing fee — as a sort of early lemonade stand business model. However, instead of a child serving you a glass of lemonade, you would’ve paid to watch a child possibly fall from a 30-foot-tall pole.
I thought donkey baseball was wild, but pole sitting was crazy. People lost teeth from being smashed against poles in thunderstorms. Multiple people competed against one another to see who could sit on their respective pole the longest. Parents acted as sports managers, arguing over their children sitting on poles and whether assisting the child or having the child wear a safety harness constituted cheating. Google “pole sitting” and switch to images — it’s wild.
Unfortunately, with the Wall Street crash of 1929, pole sitting went the same way as donkey baseball and fell from the limelight. Some die-hards have tried to bring the magic of pole sitting back, but it has yet to regain the popularity it once had. Alright, I’ll admit, I stretched for this one. Goldfish swallowing technically seems to have its origin post-Great Depression in 1939, but comedy rule of three and all. The place was Harvard University and the date, April 1939. It started with a dare to swallow a live goldfish. A few weeks later it was upped to three goldfish and some days after that, it was 24. By the end of the month, it was 101. Seemingly confined to college campuses across the nation, the fad of swallowing live goldfish or “Goldfish Gulping,” as the Los Angeles Times so colorfully called it, took off as quickly as it ended.5
College administrators suspended one student for “unbecoming” conduct. Doctors warned of the medical risks associated with eating live fish. The Massachusetts Legislature sponsored a bill that promised to “protect and preserve the fish from cruel and wanton consumption.” My personal favorite was a letter published by the New York Times questioning the health benefits of consuming fish and ease of entrance for some universities.
New York Times, April 30, 1939
By May of 1939, the fad of swallowing pet fish had faded. With Europe on the brink of war, it just didn’t seem like a college kid could really relax and toss back a few gold ones anymore. Some kids in Chicago tried eating vinyl records in place of goldfish, but that never really stuck.
Childhood fads come and go. Like donkey baseball, pole sitting, and goldfish gulping, the fads of today will also ebb and flow. So, the next time you see a group of teenagers obsessing over a new gadget or viral meme, remember how much fun those fads and phases can be.
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.
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.
Harriet Lyon, ca. 1885
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.
Franklin Lyon and daughters, clockwise from top right: Harriet, Elizabeth, Mary, Florence, ca. 1902-1906
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.
Puppet fashioned in the likeness of Harriet Lyon, 1982
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.
Notes on “Centenary Salutations” by Lillian J. Waugh and Judith Stitzel, 1989 September 12
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.
A puppeteer performing with the Harriet Lyon puppet, ca. 1989 SeptemberL to R: Rachel J. Ledbetter, Frank Jessup, and Jean H. Jessup
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.
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.
The MLK Memorial in Washington, DC taken during my visit there in 2012.
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.
All members of the public were invited to come and hear King speak.
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.”
From the Charleston Gazette Opinion page on Jan. 23, 1960.
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.”
Rev. Newsome was the Minister at First Baptist Church.
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.”
A favorite quote from the walls of the MLK Memorial.
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.
