WVU Libraries

Blog post by Ashleigh Coren, Resident Librarian, WVU Libraries.

From the Men Of West Virginia, Volume I

The diaries and ledgers of Reverend Theodore L. Gardiner (April 15, 1844 – July 3, 1938), collection A&M 4130, offer a glimpse into the history of Salem College (now Salem International University) and the life of a man who suffered many tragedies during his lifetime. While Gardiner led a long and memorable life, he is mainly known for being the former president and instructor of Salem College in Salem, WV from 1892-1906, and for being an active member of the Seventh-Day Baptist Church.

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Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center recently acquired research papers regarding Kingsley Spitzer, a B-17 gunner who participated in the strategic bombing of Germany as a member of the 95th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force.  Compiled by his brother William Spitzer, the papers include information regarding not only Kingsley, who died in a plane accident in Wales on 29 December 1943, but also of his crew mates and others, including service records from World War II and information from living veterans.  There is also material regarding efforts to preserve the history of the unit.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

The serendipitous convergence of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States and this year’s Banned Books Week has me thinking of an earlier collision between a pope and a book.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Beth Toren, Research and Media Services Librarian, Downtown Campus Library.

In observance of the season, we offer three poems about witches and witchery written and performed by Morgantown poet G. Sutton Breiding, whose books of poetry and archives are available in the West Virginia and Regional History Center. Beneath each video is an image of the poem produced in a font created from G. Sutton Breiding’s handwriting.

In these videos, he reads three witch poems accompanied by the music from the band SAY provided by Larry McClurg, a WVU alumnus and founding member of Mind Garage. Mind Garage was a WVU student psychedelic rock band who pioneered Christian rock music in the late 1960s. SAY included members of Mind Garage and another 1960s West Virginia band, Glass Menagerie. Mind Garage posters, CDs, and more are archived in the WVRHC.

Gather the children in a circle, turn off the lights, and enjoy the witchy weirdness.  Read the rest of this entry »

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

Over the summer, staff at the WVRHC and WVU Libraries completed work on the Clarysville Civil War Hospital Digital Collection.  The online collection features over 750 hospital bed cards from the U.S. General Hospital located at Clarysville, Maryland during the American Civil War.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

Although Pauline Gertrude Wiggin Leonard was a librarian at West Virginia University for a short time, 1902 – 1907, she made an impact in the world of academic scholarship.

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Blog post by Jane Metters LaBarbara, Assistant Curator, WVRHC.
To start us off right on the first day of the month, I bring you a selection of toys from the past, all found in the WVRHC’s collections.

Unidentified toy, ca. 1850-1860?, probably belonging to Aretas Brooks Fleming (1839-1923; 8th Governor of West Virginia)

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

Bishop George W. Peterkin established Episcopal Hall to serve as a dormitory for future ministers as well as other male WVU students who needed living quarters.  The residence hall stood at the corner of Willey and Spruce Streets, the current site of Trinity Episcopal Church.  When the building was completed in 1895, it could house about 16 students, but an addition was built soon after that increased this capacity to 40.

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Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center was recently loaned the glass plates of Bruce Washburn, a photographer who lived and worked in Harrison County, West Virginia, at the turn of the last century (ca. 1900).  Discovered in the 1980s within a wall of Washburn’s former home, the plates were then preserved over the years by Robert Nichols, eventually finding their way to the History Center as a loan for copying.  Particularly significant in the collection is a plate documenting the late 18th century frontier home of Colonel William Lowther as it appeared in 1908:

Home of Colonel William Lowther (1742-1814) of Harrison County
from a photograph in the Washburn glass plate collection  Read the rest of this entry »

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.

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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 »