WVU Libraries

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

“Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.”

Carter G. Woodson spent a lifetime researching, collecting, recording, and writing about African American History.  Woodson’s tireless scholarship as well as his insistence that African Americans had a place in history led him to publish more than twenty books and articles on the historic role of African Americans.  Founder of the Black History Month we know today, Woodson’s initial effort was called Black History Week and it was designated by Woodson to be held in the second week of February.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Jane Metters LaBarbara, Assistant Curator, WVRHC.

I was searching for a fun old recipe to test for this week’s blog post, and I stumbled on a surprising amount of food history.  To start this story, we’ll have to begin with scrapbooks.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Lori Hostuttler, Digital Projects and Outreach Archivist, WVRHC.

One of my favorite summertime activities is berry picking.  Every year beginning around July 4 there is an abundance of blackberries on the hill behind my house.  The thickets and brambles line an old well road.  For a few weeks, I spend my free time gathering the berries, then making jams, cobblers and pies.  I look forward to the season every year.  Picking blackberries brings back good memories and makes me feel like a young kid again.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

Lucy Shuttleworth’s scrapbook.
Also included in this picture is Lucy’s red diary,
which had been previously acquired by the History Center.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center recently acquired the scrapbook of WVU student Lucy Shuttleworth, later Shuttleworth Dunlap.  Through this acquisition Lucy’s scrapbook is now home with her diary, and together they are complementary, the diary giving context to the artifacts in the scrapbook.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

Summer is the time when a gardener’s hopes and dreams come to fruition.  Sunny days and spring rains combine to bring forth the beauty of buds and blooms in a garden, for as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The earth laughs in flowers.”  Here are some photos of West Virginians enjoying their gardens.   Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Jane Metters LaBarbara, Assistant Curator, WVRHC.

West Virginia University Libraries and the WVRHC marked the 150th anniversary of the origins of Storer College with a celebration and the opening of a new exhibit in the WVRHC galleries.  Stewart has written a great blog post on the importance of Storer College, Storer College, Celebrating 150 Years of Education, 1865 to 1955.  Today, I’d like to share with you some of my favorite pieces of the exhibit:  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Lori Hostuttler, Digital Projects and Outreach Archivist, WVRHC.

In November 1969, Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali spoke to WVU students as part of the Festival of Ideas speaker series.

Ali faces the audience on November 5, 1969 in the Mountainlair Ballrooms.

Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center recently acquired many photographs documenting the beginnings of agricultural and other extension work in the state from around 1910 to 1920.  The University’s extension service grew out of its inception under the Morrill Act of 1862.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

From its humble beginnings as a mission school founded in 1865 by the Reverend Nathan Cook Brackett to educate former slaves, to its development as a fully fledged college granting degrees to African American men and women, Storer College became the first institution of higher learning for African Americans in the state of West Virginia.  Located in Harpers Ferry near the site of John Brown’s 1859 attack on the Federal Armory, Storer College represented the freedom Civil War African Americans hoped to achieve.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Jane Metters LaBarbara, Assistant Curator, WVRHC.

The variety of styles of dress, hair, and facial hair that we see in the WVRHC’s online photographs database, West Virginia History OnView, never fails to surprise me.  Today, I’d like to focus on a few of the many ways men expressed themselves thru facial hair in the late 1800s.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Lori Hostuttler, Digital Projects and Outreach Archivist, WVRHC.

By the time this is posted, most readers will be back to work after a long weekend.  Although the holiday has passed, the purpose and practice of observing Memorial Day is worthy of reflection every day of the year.

The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a Union veteran’s organization, established Decoration Day to honor the veterans who lost their life in service during the Civil War.  On May 30, 1868, 5000 people attended a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery and decorated the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

Recently, during the course of work on the Harrison County Court Records collection (at the West Virginia and Regional History Center), a document was discovered that gives tangible evidence of the frontier war between native Americans and the United States in the Ohio country, a region west of the Appalachian Mountains between the northern Ohio River and Lake Erie.  Described as a “pay abstract,” it documents the names of seven scouts “ordered into service” in 1795 by General Benjamin Biggs (ca. 1752-1823), a militia commander with responsibility for defending the Virginia frontier.

Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

Charley Harper saw shapes.  He didn’t see birds, or trees, bear, or fish.  He saw shapes.  And shapes in the natural world are what he painted.  His art was minimalistic, modern, and playful; a style Harper called “minimal realism.”  It was a style that was perfectly suited to the Mad Men era when his work was at its peak of popularity, the ‘50’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s.
Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Jane Metters LaBarbara, Assistant Curator, WVRHC.

We have a photo of George S. Patton, but none of his wife Sue

I intended to write a very different sort of blog post, but Susan Thornton Glassell Patton’s letter to her first husband, George (grandfather of the George Patton of WWII fame) was so interesting that I transcribed it.  Sue’s letter reveals a lot about her life and the world she lived in.  She talks about the “irregularity” of mail delivery, visits from relatives, and trying to keep her spirits up in difficult times.   In a turn of phrase that may have been less alarming in 1863 than it may be today, she writes “This strain [?] however does not become one who is endeavoring to cultivate a cheerful or [?] thankful frame of mind, but you must remember my dearest that to all complicated and useful machinery as woman, there must be a safety valve, or else an explosion.”  She also talks about the financial hardships she faces, and the reality that she may not be able to afford living where she currently does if George is sent south.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Lori Hostuttler, Digital Projects and Outreach Archivist, WVRHC.

At the West Virginia & Regional History Center, a critical part of our mission is to preserve the treasures of the state and region. We are actively working to make sure our collections will be available to future generations. Preservation Week, sponsored by the American Library Association’s Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, encourages everyone to think about the preservation of their personal, family, and community collections and also seeks to provide educational information and resources. Do you have a plan for preserving your old photos, scrapbooks, diaries, letters, or home movies? Does your neighborhood association, church, or social group have records that need to be organized and cared for so others can use them?

Basic preservation doesn’t have to be scary or hard. There are some simple ways you can extend the life of materials. Here are some easy and quick preservation tips compiled by ALCTS that can help you preserve your personal collections:  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

In 1948, Biology professor Earl L. Core had the foresight to envision a place where students in the biology and botany departments could do field research  He envisioned students and faculty engaging in botanical research right in the heart of the city.  After a discussion with then WVU president Irwin Stewart, ninety one lush acres of undeveloped woodland, rising at its base from the banks of the Monongahela River to its height bordering Monongahela Boulevard, were set aside to preserve and to study the distinctive biodiversity within this realm of river bottom and ridge line.  The Arboretum was born.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center recently acquired a collection of photographs shot by West Virginian Marshall L. Williamson, a member of the US Navy Medical Corps assigned to the 57th Naval Construction Battalion.  Trained in Gulfport, Mississippi in February of 1943, they were deployed in March and April to Espiritu Santo, the largest island in the New Hebrides.  This island served as the location for a supply and support base during WWII, but it’s also the fabled island featured in James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific, which was later memorialized in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific.  On evidence of these photographs, Williamson took an active interest in the sights around him when based at Espiritu Santo, including not only scenes of his life as a naval medic, but also of the native people and landscape, some of which we include in this blog.  Read the rest of this entry »

Guest blog post by Brandi Oswald, Graduate Student Assistant, WVRHC.

This week marks the 150^th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War in Virginia. This blog post focuses on West Virginians present at the war’s end, at both the evacuation of Richmond, the Confederate capital, and the surrender at Appomattox Court House.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Lori Hostuttler, Digital Projects and Outreach Archivist, WVRHC.

The WV & Regional History Center is truly filled with treasures – one of my favorites happens to be the Lucy Washington Cookbook, A&M 3212.  Lucy Washington’s grandfather was a nephew of President George Washington.  She lived in Jefferson County, West Virginia, where many Washington family members held land and built homes.  In 1840, Lucy married John Packett.  Their home, Locust Hill, was located near Charles Town.  

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

On the 18th of December, 1930, a photographer from the studio of Gravely and Moore appeared at the offices of the West Virginia Department of Health in Charleston, West Virginia to document their workplace.  The resulting photos, some of which are presented here, can be viewed and understood in any number of ways.  For this blog, however, we’ll chose to view them through the lens of technology, thereby throwing into relief the advantages of the modern office that we all enjoy today.   Read the rest of this entry »