The West Virginia and Regional History Center has collected a lot of WVU memorabilia over the years. Our three main collections of memorabilia, A&M 274, 448, and 1385, contain a wide range of artifacts, ephemera, and publications dating back to 1875. Below are a few items from these collections.
The West Virginia and Regional History Center strives to acquire, preserve, and provide access to items of enduring value that pertain to the history of West Virginia and the central Appalachian region. Enduring value is a broad term, which the Society of American Archivists’ glossary defines as “The continuing usefulness or significance of records, based on the administrative, legal, fiscal, evidential, or historical information they contain, justifying their ongoing preservation.”
Though WVU Libraries will be closed on July 4th, we can start celebrating Independence Day early with these photos of Fourth of July parades across West Virginia.
The latest issue of the WVRHC’s newsletter is now available on our newsletter webpage. This issue includes a feature article titled “Birth of West Virginia Revealed through the Papers of its Founders,” a schedule of events for our West Virginia Day celebration of 150 years of statehood on Thursday, June 20th, and information on recently accessioned collections.
Remember, our West Virginia Day celebration is open to the public. We hope to see you there!
Provenance (pronounced prov–uh-nuhns or prov–uh-nahns), a guiding principle in the archives field, refers to the information regarding origin, custody, and ownership of an item or collection. Knowing the provenance of an item or collection helps archivists assess authenticity and enduring value. However, we do not always know provenance. In some cases, donors are unaware of the custodial history of their materials. In other cases, items are donated anonymously. One such item with unknown provenance is an interesting piece of art, the history of which is lost.
The West Virginia and Regional History Center is pleased to announce that the finding aids (collection descriptions) of our Archives and Manuscript collections are now searchable through ArchiveGrid!
ArchiveGrid is a database containing nearly two million archival material descriptions, representing archival collections held by roughly one thousand libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives. Freely available, it is a great resource for researchers interested in personal papers, family histories, historical documents, or other archival materials. Though focused on collection descriptions from U.S. institutions, ArchiveGrid has a growing number of contributing institutions from other countries. Researchers can use ArchiveGrid to search for a specific term or character string across institutions; the list of search results contains links to pertinent collections’ finding aids or catalog records.
In the midst of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, archives and special collections libraries across the country are gathering their Civil War papers and memorabilia to share with the public. The West Virginia and Regional History Center is no exception. The WVRHC holds a vast array of material from the Civil War period, including personal diaries and journals. The excerpts below give readers a glimpse of what life was like for people in central Appalachia in late May during the war years.
In the decades before digital photography, how many people took the time to write identifying information on the backs of their photographs? Those photos are then passed down through the generations, sold, or given away, and the pictures’ identification gets lost. It is not uncommon for photographs donated to archival repositories to be unidentified and undated. In some cases, insight into the subjects of unidentified photos can be gleaned from styles of dress, props and accessories, or local landmarks.
Many of the photos held by the West Virginia and Regional History Center are available in the digital photograph database called West Virginia History OnView, and some of them lack identifying information. One such image is photo number 040438, “Group Portrait of West Virginia Statehood Leaders.”
On April 17, 1861, the Virginia Convention voted, 88 to 55, to secede from the Union. Almost two-thirds of those who voted against secession came from northwestern Virginia, where the economic climate and political interests were very different from eastern Virginia. The passage of the Virginia Secession Ordinance resulted in anti-secession conventions across northwestern Virginia. The largest of these, held in Clarksburg, resulted in a call for a convention to be held to address Virginia’s uncertain political future. The resulting meeting, held on May 13-15, 1861, would later be known as the First Wheeling Convention.
Today, the West Virginia and Regional History Center launched its new website. The new site offers clear navigation, improved searching, and a fresh design that helps to showcase the vast array of material that the WVRHC makes available to researchers investigating West Virginia and central Appalachia history and culture. It includes all of the information found on our previous website, as well as some new things. Highlights include:
Please take a few minutes to explore the new site. If you can’t find what you need, or just want to give us feedback, contact us.
