The winter season has long been associated with holidays, friends, family, and food. For this week’s blog post, we bring you four recipes from the 1800s that show us how Appalachian people from that time would have made popular holiday dishes of today: pound cake, fruit cake, corn meal rusk (a kind of corn bread eaten for breakfast), and mince pie.
Just over a century ago, in the spring of 1912, a fight broke out between labor and corporate interests in the coal fields around Paint and Cabin Creeks in Kanawha County. When redress for apparent wage inequality was denied by the mine owners, the workers went on strike, a decision that eventually led to violence, property destruction, and many deaths. Read the rest of this entry »
November is, among other things, National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. West Virginians writing novels this month (or any other) can take inspiration from fellow Mountaineers who have written for pleasure and profit, some of international fame. Aspiring novelists can explore the writing processes of these authors by examining collections of their papers, some of which have been collected and preserved by the West Virginia and Regional History Center.
Veterans Day is celebrated annually on November 11 as a remembrance of those who have served in the United States armed services. Founded as “Armistice Day” by President Wilson in 1919, it was intended to honor the heroism of the veterans of World War I on the day that hostilities ceased. The holiday was later designated through law to officially recognize all US military veterans under the current name of “Veterans Day.”
The West Virginia and Regional History Center also honors veterans through the acquisition and preservation of records that document their service. We have records of West Virginians who have served in many conflicts, including the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam.
On June 9, 1840, Peter Garnall of Wheeling, [West] Virginia, wrote a letter to his nephew Mordecai Garnall in Pensacola, Florida. He wrote about the importance of staying in touch with one’s family, his curio cabinet, and predictions for the upcoming presidential election, which pitted General William Henry Harrison (“Tippecanoe”) and his running mate John Tyler against then-President Martin Van Buren.
Excerpt from Garnall’s letter (A&M 2543):
The approaching Presidential election has produced an excitement far beyond anything of the kind I have ever witnessed. The people assemble in thousands. We have on the vicinity of this place four very large meetings. That at West Alexander is said to have numbered from eight to ten thousand. They had one yesterday of some three thousand at a small village eight miles above Wheeling & there is to be another … on the 3rd September, which will in all probability number many thousands, but so far they [all] gone off in harmony, the prevailing opinion amaze many of the [?] who have been collecting information that Gen. Harrison will get two hundred & forty eight electoral votes out of the two hundred & ninety five. The Whigs are very sanguine of success. Senator Tallmadge in a letter I read yesterday says that Gen. Harrison’s majority will exceed that of General Jackson in his palmiest days, he says that N. York will give the former a majority over Mr. VanBuren of fifteen thousand at least. In & about Wheeling an overwhelming majority of the men women and children are all alive to the success of Harrison.
Mr. Garnell’s sources were very nearly correct: Harrison won 234 out of 294 electoral votes, and he won the popular vote in New York, Van Buren’s home state, by over 13,000 votes. The popular vote in Virginia was close, with a little over 1000 votes swinging all of the state’s electoral votes in favor of Van Buren.
Harrison’s election was unique for many reasons. First, he broke with tradition and became the first president to actively campaign. However, his first campaign, for the presidency in 1836, failed. Harrison’s campaign tours were not the type of campaigning Americans usually see today— Harrison was trying to show people that he was healthy enough for the presidency. Unfortunately, he became the first president to die in office, holding his presidency for only one month.
HarpWeek has more information on the evolution of presidential campaigning here.
Blog post by Jane Metters.
The West Virginia and Regional History Center recently acquired glass lantern advertising slides that were once projected in the local theater of the small Calhoun County town of Grantsville. Dating from the early 20th century, they announced upcoming movies to be screened at the Kanawha Theater to captive local audiences seeking entertainment and distraction. These slides, nearly a century old, document the transition from silent cinema to the modern sound film.
Whether you are researching West Virginia ghost stories or just looking for Halloween costume inspiration, the West Virginia and Regional History Center has something for everyone.
Hearing someone describe their own experience of events in the past, as an eyewitness, provides an almost tangible connection to history, a connection that can be found missing when compared to reading second hand accounts of past events by historians and others. The immediacy of oral history interviews can make them a compelling resource for research, whether the subject is a veteran of World War II, a striking miner, or a mountaineer discussing folklore.
The West Virginia and Regional History Center possesses a large and diverse collection of oral history recordings. A catalog of this material is now available online for researchers. Most of the interviews in this collection were recorded from the 1940s to the 1980s. Some of the earliest interviews contain narratives that speak first-hand about life in the 1800s.
The West Virginia and Regional History Center’s current exhibit, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the creation of our state, is now available to view online. Visit our 2013 exhibit webpage to take a look!
Exhibit Trivia:
Largest item on display: the 35 star flag, more than 9 1/2 feet wide and 6 feet tall
Smallest item on display: a Confederate gold dollar, roughly one centimeter in diameter
Oldest item on display: While the Fry-Jefferson Map of the Most Inhabited Part of Virginia was published in 1753, the map on display is a facsimile. The oldest original item we have on display is most likely the compass used by Francis Deakins when he surveyed the Deakins line in 1788, depending on when it was actually made; the land grant signed by Benjamin Franklin in 1787 may be older.
Newest item on display: Not including the items that are facsimiles created specifically for this exhibit, the newest item on display is most likely the West Virginia University cadet uniform, which dates to the end of the 19th century.
Blog post by Jane Metters.
When photographs are made, their creators often overlook the task of recording identifications of their subjects, whether the names of people, locations, or special events. This is not surprising, since the usefulness of photographs is apparently seen by their creators as limited to the immediate purpose at hand, where the subjects are already known by the photographer. But when photographs outlive their creators, their content is often unknown to those who acquire them — this is a situation faced by all who work in museums and libraries when acquiring historical collections. This situation becomes a problem when these materials are repurposed for historical research, since their potential can remain largely untapped until their content can be divulged through astute detective work or a “lucky break.”
The West Virginia and Regional History Center is no different from other repositories in sharing this problem. And like other repositories, we sometimes publish our unidentified photos in the hope that someone may recognize a person, a location, etc., and help us identify our images of mystery.
To start, we are curious about the location of the company store in the following image:
This picture was taken by William O. Trevey, a photographer working in the New River coalfields of Raleigh and Fayette counties in the period ca. 1900-1930. Other Trevey photographs in our collection can be found here.
Another photograph of interest is of a mill which we believe to be somewhere in West Virginia, since it came from the collection of James Boughner, a Morgantown resident. We would like to know where this mill is located, and any related information:
Finally, we are interested in finding out anything we can about this photograph from the collection of Walter Mestrezat, the first director of West Virginia University’s wind band:
If you would like to share information about any of these photographs, please contact Associate Curator of Archives and Manuscripts Michael Ridderbusch at Michael.Ridderbusch@mail.wvu.edu, or call the WVRHC at 304-293-3536.
Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch.
As the third post in our series about the enduring value of archival items, today’s post will explore artifactual value. The Society of American Archivists’ glossary defines artifactual value as “The usefulness or significance of an object based on its physical or aesthetic characteristics, rather than its intellectual content.” We can say an item has artifactual value if it is a good example of its type, regardless of its subject matter. Artifactual value can apply to such diverse items as photographs, land grants, clothing, and books, and it is one of the factors that archivists (and museum professionals) consider when deciding what to preserve for future generations.
Here are a few examples of items with artifactual value that can be found in WVU’s collections: Read the rest of this entry »
A century ago, the 1913 West Virginia legislature enacted the Yost Law, establishing the Department of Prohibition to enforce a recently passed state prohibition amendment — thus began a two decade experiment in prohibition that ended with repeal in 1934.
The WVU Libraries’ West Virginia and Regional History Center has received a $135,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue digitizing newspapers published in West Virginia from 1836 to 1922.
“This new grant means that the NEH sees tremendous value in the historical newspapers housed in the West Virginia and Regional History Center, and they want to help us make more of these resources accessible to the world,” said John Cuthbert, Curator of the West Virginia and Regional History Center.
The award is the Libraries’ second grant from the NEH as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program. This collaborative effort between the NEH and the Library of Congress enlists libraries and institutions from around the country to provide enhanced access to historical United States newspapers. In fall 2011, the NEH awarded the WVRHC a $266,000 grant to participate in the project.
Labor Day is a U.S. federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September, honoring the economic and social contributions of our country’s labor force. The holiday gives us the chance to reflect on West Virginia’s labor history and one of the incidents that shaped it: the Battle of Blair Mountain.
Sometimes, when cataloging historical records, there are unexpected discoveries that enrich our understanding of historical events.
Recently, for example, staff at the West Virginia and Regional History Center uncovered records documenting court actions for purpose of taking into custody “traitors” to the United States of America. These public arrest records, dating from 1861-1862, identify individuals deemed armed supporters of the Confederate government, and mirror the unfolding of events at the beginning of the war in western Virginia.
When southern forces were forming in Randolph County in June 1861, for example, warrants were issued on July 1st for the arrest of John Pegram, a lieutenant colonel, and Granville Shreves, a private in the 25th Virginia Infantry — both of these men were combatants at the Battle of Rich Mountain on July 11th. In the Confederate defeat, Pegram surrendered his regiment and Shreve retreated to Camp Allegheny with his unit. Pegram’s younger brother William, incidentally, served as an artillery officer during the war, seeing battle at Gettysburg, among numerous other engagements.
The collection also includes an 1862 warrant for the arrest of Peregrine Hays, a childhood playmate of Stonewall Jackson and later a rebel soldier, serving with the ill-famed “Moccasin Rangers.” He was captured and held prisoner at Camp Chase, Ohio, returning to Gilmer County after the war.
Peregrine Hays
These examples are only a sample of the numerous treason case files to found in the records of the Court for the Western Judicial District of Virginia, A&M 3951, at the West Virginia and Regional History Center.
Blog post written by Michael Ridderbusch.
In honor of the first day of class, today’s post showcases WVRHC collections of student materials from decades past. One highlight of our collections is a diary of Everett Crittenden Smith, West Virginia University class of 1877, regarding his experiences as a WVU student in 1874 (A&M 5125). He recorded his academic activities as well as his participation in a literary society, the military cadets, and the Methodist Episcopal Church. While we do not have a diary entry from his first day of class, we do have his thoughts on the beginning of his second semester. An excerpt from his entry of January 3, 1874 reads:
The battle sword of General Joseph A. J. Lightburn (1824-1901), a West Virginian who fought under Ulysses S. Grant at Vicksburg, was recently donated to the West Virginia and Regional History Center. During the siege of that city a bullet struck the sword’s scabbard, leaving a deep dent and thereby sparing the general’s life. Evidence of Lightburn’s good fortune can still be seen on the scabbard to this day. Read the rest of this entry »
The first crop of the West Virginia University Libraries’ contribution to the National Digital Newspaper Program can now be viewed online at the Chronicling America website.
“This changes everything,” said John Cuthbert, director of the West Virginia and Regional History Center. “Researchers will no longer have to pore over countless pages looking for needles in a haystack. The ability to do online full-text searches is going to revolutionize newspaper research.”
In fall 2011, as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program, the WVRHC received a $266,000 grant from National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize newspapers published in West Virginia from 1836 to 1922.
Jesse Hilton Stuart (August 8, 1906 – February 17, 1984) was born and raised in the small community of W-Hollow, Kentucky, just west of Huntington, West Virginia. He is known for his short stories, poetry, and novels about Southern Appalachia. Read the rest of this entry »
Last month, we talked about informational value as one of the qualities contributing to the enduring value that archivists assess when acquiring materials. Another important quality of enduring value is evidential value, which the Society of American Archivists’ glossary defines as “The quality of records that provides information about the origins, functions, and activities of their creator.” The distinction between the two values is that informational value relates to the content of the records and evidential value relates to the process of creation of the records. While it is not always easy to tease the two values apart, both are important when considering what materials should be retained for future researchers. Read the rest of this entry »
