WVU Libraries

Guest blog post by Zachery Cowsert, graduate student assistant, WVRHC.

The night before the Fourth of July, 1861, a dozen Union soldiers (self -described “disciples of Faust”) broke into the offices of the Virginia Republican—a decidedly secessionist organ—and appropriated the newspaper’s office for their own use.  The next morning, the first issues of the American Union hit the streets of Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia).  The newspaper—composed and printed entirely by Union soldiers—enjoyed a brief existence in Martinsburg; today, the newspapers’ pages are housed in the West Virginia and Regional History Center, and they offer a glimpse into soldier life and patriotism early in the Civil War.[i]   Read the rest of this entry »

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

On March 2, the National Education Association celebrates Read Across America, “an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading”—March 2 also happens to be the birthday of beloved author Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel).  Since WVU has a commitment to lifelong learning, I thought today’s blog post would be a good place to celebrate lifelong reading.  I asked my coworkers in the WVRHC to share with our readers a book that they love, think is noteworthy, or that taught them something interesting.  Ten of them came up with a wide range of favorites; their choices and explanations are below.

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

Author and humorist Mark Twain is best known for his famous books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and many others. However, Twain also created other books, much less famous today than those he authored, but popular in their heyday in the late 1870s and 1880s.

Label on pastedown endpaper (inside the front cover) of one of the WVRHC’s Twain scrapbooks

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

Since we celebrated President’s Day this week, I thought I would highlight a few of the items at the West Virginia & Regional History Center that are connected to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two of our most beloved and admired presidents.   Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

Sometimes the cataloging of archival collections yields discoveries that document an interesting moment in history.  The Gravely and Moore archive is such a collection, its photographs capturing much of the history of Charleston, West Virginia.

Without knowing it, Gravely and Moore documented the beginning of a culinary empire in the Mountain State — the drive-in known as “Parkette,” which opened in 1947 in Charleston, West Virginia.  After successfully spreading across the state, it then franchised the name Shoney’s in 1953 and spread across the nation.  According to a 2012 article in the magazine West Virginia Living, the chain’s success peaked in the late 1990s, with 1,400 Shoney’s restaurants and 400 Captain D’s restaurants.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

The humble groundhog.  Few animals have had such an interesting history.  The lowly critter has been the subject of both good and bad intentions.  On the plus side, the groundhog was painted by Audubon, starred in a Hollywood blockbuster movie, and revered as a weather prognosticator.  However, the flip side of the equation sees the groundhog vilified as a garden thief as well as a tasty addition to a hunter’s stew.  Read the rest of this entry »

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

On January 26, 1937, the Ohio River’s floodwater in Parkersburg, WV reached a peak of 55.4 feet, which was 19.4 feet above flood stage.  Two days later, the floodwaters at Huntington, WV would also peak at more than 19 feet above flood stage.  Thankfully, the flood was not an overnight surprise, but it was also not without cost.   Read the rest of this entry »

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

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 55 years ago this week.

The MLK Memorial in Washington, DC taken during my visit there in 2012.

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Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

Boy with goldfish

For well over a hundred years photographs have documented the moments that make up our lives, from the celebrations to the everyday.  These photos often include our faithful companions as important members of the family.  While man’s best friend may be a dog, other creatures of fur and fin were also considered good companions.  Here’s a look at West Virginians posing with their best friends.

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

Have you ever heard the expression “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”?  Those words ran through my head when I processed a recently acquired scrapbook here at the WVRHC.  The individual who gave it to us got it from someone who rescued it from a recycling bin in a local building.  This scrapbook is now A&M 4065, Worthington Pharmacy Scrapbook, with contents dating from ca. 1926-1935.

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

50 years ago today, December 19, 1964, the WVU Mountaineers football team faced the University of Utah’s Utes in the Liberty Bowl at Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Unfortunately, WVU lost that game by a wide margin.  Let’s hope our return to the AutoZone Liberty Bowl redeems us. In the meantime, we can glimpse back at the 1964 game through yearbooks, newspapers, and photographs available at the West Virginia & Regional History Center.

Mountaineer Mascot Ed Pritchard looks on during the 1964 Liberty Bowl.

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Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

Thousands of pages of newspapers at the West Virginia and Regional History Center have been digitized and are now searchable, with additional installments to be added in the future.  They’re available via the Library of Congress website “Chronicling America.”  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

As the holiday season approaches, let’s take a look back at gift books from the rare book collection in the West Virginia and Regional History Center.  These books were designed to capitalize on the holiday season or they were given as holiday gifts.  Read the rest of this entry »

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

Ninety-one years ago, on December 1, 1923, the battleship USS West Virginia was commissioned.  The ship was actually christened two years earlier, on November 19, 1921, and was the second ship to be named for West Virginia (the first was an armored cruiser later renamed USS Huntington).

Image of the USS West Virginia battleship being launched after christening.

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

This fall I have had the pleasure of displaying a small exhibit on the History of Extension at WVU to two events, the Smith-Lever Act Research Symposium and the WVU Extension Annual Meeting.  The exhibit contained photographs, books, and early extension bulletins, but the item that generated the most interest was a scrapbook that documents camp life at Jackson’s Mill in 1925.  The scrapbook contains fantastic images of campers at work and play at the state 4H camp in Weston, W. Va.

 Scrapbook cover

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Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

While not a museum, the West Virginia and Regional History Center sometimes acquires artifacts, most of which accompany collections of family papers, business records, and related material.  The top hat of teacher, newspaper publisher, prosecuting attorney, and Parsons, West Virginia mayor James Porter Scott (1857-1938) is such an item, filling a unique niche in our collection.  Though over a century old, its brown silk outer layer still has a reflective sheen.

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Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

The works of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author Pearl S. Buck have found a permanent home at WVU in the West Virginia & Regional History Center, thanks to a partnership with West Virginia Wesleyan College, which housed Buck’s manuscripts for many years, and the Pearl Buck Birthplace Foundation, the manuscripts’ original home.

WVU Libraries’ Dean Cawthorne’s collection of the works of Pearl Buck, as displayed in his office.

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

Did you know that some books with gilt edges (edges covered with gold leaf or paint, like the pages shown below) contain secret art?  As far back as the 10th century, artists painted designs on the edges of book pages; many surviving examples of these paintings are on books that have gilt edges.  The images, called fore-edge paintings, tend to be painted on the book’s fore-edge, which is the edge opposite the book’s spine.

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

On September 19, 1931, residents of Harrison County, West Virginia, mobbed the county jail in Clarksburg.  The confessed murderer, Harry Powers, waited inside in his cell.  Less than a month earlier, he had admitted to the horrific murders of two women and three children on his farm outside of Clarksburg in the small community of Quiet Dell.  The mob, upset with the slow progress of the court, wanted justice and wanted it fast. Realizing violence was very likely, police slipped Powers away to the State Penitentiary in Moundsville to wait for his trial.

The scene at the jail makes headlines.

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Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

The magnificent Kearse Theater in Charleston, West Virginia, though listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, was demolished two years later due to apparent lack of interest.  It opened auspiciously in November 1922, with a gala attended by West Virginia governors E.F. Morgan, William A. MacCorkle, and Wesley A. Atkinson, as well as Mayor Grant P. Hall of Charleston, and functioned as a cultural center until its closure in 1979.

Recently, when digitizing negatives from the Gravely and Moore studio photograph collection at the West Virginia and Regional History Center, images of the Kearse were resurrected showing both its facade and interior.

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