WVU Libraries

The Libraries recently acquired a new collection of digitized newspapers to support research. Proquest Historical Black Newspapers offers outstanding primary source documents for the study of African-American history, politics, and culture.

The collection contains full text of 9 important African-American newspapers: Chicago Defender, The Baltimore Afro-American, New York Amsterdam News,Pittsburgh Courier, Los Angeles Sentinel, Atlanta Daily World, The Norfolk Journal and Guide, The Philadelphia Tribune, and Cleveland Call and Post. Dates of coverage vary by newspaper, but taken together the collection covers from 1893 to 2005.

The 9 newspapers may be searched as a group through a listing on the Library web site at: Proquest Historical Newspapers – Black Newspapers. They may be cross-searched with other Proquest databases, such as the historical New York Times, as well.

For more information or questions contact http://answers.lib.wvu.edu/ or Penny Pugh at ppugh@wvu.edu.

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

One of the highlights of the WVRHC is the journal of John W. M. Appleton, part of A&M 92.  Appleton was an officer in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War, and later became Adjutant General of West Virginia.¹  Appleton’s journal is a unique and valuable research tool, telling the story of one of the first all-black regiments in the Union Army through Appleton’s eyes and containing sketches, photographs, and newspaper clippings that give us greater insight into that time. Read the rest of this entry »

The West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the WVU Libraries are teaming up again for the Mountaineer Touchdown Challenge, a fundraising campaign to benefit the Libraries.

The initiative, in its fourth year, enables participants to pledge a dollar amount per touchdown the Mountaineers score during the 2014 season and any subsequent bowl game. The proceeds will support a project within the Libraries.

“I am proud that the Mountaineer football team and the WVU Libraries are again teaming up for the Touchdown Challenge,” Director of Athletics Oliver Luck said. “Our Libraries are central to the University’s academic mission. I encourage our alumni and fans to participate in this fun opportunity to support academics while cheering for the Mountaineers.”

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Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center is continuing to digitize the negatives of the Gravely and Moore collection in order to enhance their accessibility to researchers.  A previous installment of this blog highlighted Gravely and Moore photos of a busy World War II era bus depot in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  In this installment we show images recently “discovered” of businesses in Charleston, West Virginia.  Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

Library on the third floor of Martin Hall.

The study of Library History has become a popular field in recent years.  With the rise of interest in historical libraries, library practices, librarianship and librarians, we’ll take this opportunity to look at our own library history and the librarians who worked to make information accessible to students in the early years of West Virginia University.  This blog is part one in a series on the evolution of the WVU library and its librarians.

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The West Virginia University Press has returned to its home in the WVU Libraries. After 15 years under the charge of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, the Press has returned to where it began.

“We’re delighted that the Press is now in the Libraries and under the leadership of Dean of Libraries Jon E. Cawthorne, who is an energetic and visionary person,” Eberly Dean Robert Jones said. “We think that bodes well for the future of the Press.”

It was a dean of Libraries – Dr. Robert F. Munn – who founded the Press in the 1960s. In 1999, the Press moved to Eberly, where it has been managed by Dr. Pat Conner and then Carrie Mullen.

The Press publishes about 17-20 books each year, as well as four journals, and has received national recognition as an award-winning press. So far this year, three of its titles have won awards.

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

Though many of us don’t think about it, the buildings that make up the landmarks of our daily lives change over time.  West Virginia University is no exception.  Interiors are refurbished, wings are added, facades are restored, and new buildings are being constructed even now.  Some of our campus landmarks have been memorialized in holiday ornaments, donated to the WVRHC as part of a collection in processing which will soon be A&M 3950, tentatively called the Vaughn L. Kiger Collection of Historical Photographs and Records Regarding Morgantown.  These ornaments are part of a series produced by Heritage Collection in the 1990s.  I’ve paired each ornament below with an older photograph from our West Virginia History OnView database to highlight some of the changes, or lack thereof.   Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

Recently, when reviewing the images resulting from scans of negatives from our Gravely and Moore photography collection, photos were uncovered that systematically document the facilities and operations of a busy bus depot during World War II.  According to a current online exhibit by the Smithsonian, “Americans On The Move,” the 1930s and 40s were a time when bus travel was a “glamorous and modern” mode of transportation that hit its peak during the years of World War II.  The photographs we discovered date from this golden era, documenting a Greyhound bus depot in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in September 1942.  This blog will present a selection of images from this grouping of negatives.

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Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

The nameplate of the Daily Citizen, and the wallpaper on which the WVRHC’s copy was printed.

As we celebrate Independence Day this July 4th, we look back to another 4th of July one hundred and fifty one years ago to events that occurred a mere fourteen days after West Virginia achieved statehood on June 20, 1863.  It was on July 4th, 1863, that Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton surrendered to General Grant at Vicksburg, an event considered by many to be an important turning point in the Civil War. Read the rest of this entry »

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

Though the West Virginia and Regional History Center’s collections focus on the history of our state and the central Appalachian region, their scope extends across the globe.  West Virginians have travelled far and wide to see and do incredible things, and the WVRHC keeps their stories for posterity.  These travelers include WVU students who served in World War II and documented their experiences abroad (see A&M 120); businessman Stephen B. Elkins, who lived in Santa Fe, NM in the 1870s and recorded information about illegal land speculation in his letter book (see A&M 3979); and poet Maggie Anderson, who collected information on the Danish Resistance Movement when she traveled to Denmark in the 1990s (see A&M 3956).  Today’s post is about Reverend Edward Evans Parrish, a native of Monongalia County, WV who took his family west on the Oregon Trail in 1843-1844 and kept a travel diary for most of the trip. Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

The digital revolution has transformed the economics of photography, allowing almost anyone with a cell phone access to an inexpensive and convenient method to create photographs.  It’s consequently difficult to imagine a time when photography was an expensive and cumbersome process, usually requiring the attention of full time professionals.

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Renovation work will temporarily limit access to a portion of Evansdale Library’s collection. During this time, Evansdale Director Mary Strife advises users to request needed items through ILLiad or E-ZBorrow.

Strife said crews will be laying carpet on the facility’s lower level beginning Tuesday, June 24. A completion date has not been set.

The overall renovation project, expected to be complete by August 8, will add a coffee shop to the first floor and more study space on the lower level.

Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

The Monongalia Academy

Chartered in 1814, the Academy’s administration was guided by a group of Morgantown men who served as its trustees.  Three men among this group who served as trustees were instrumental to the life of the Academy, and credited with the civic and business development of Morgantown.  Although many others served as trustees for the Monongalia Academy over time, this look back over the succeeding two hundred years since the Academy’s charter examines the lives of some of the Academy’s leading principals. Read the rest of this entry »

The West Virginia UniversityLibraries will mark West Virginia’s 151^st birthday on June 20 by looking back 200 years.

Long before students filled the buildings of Woodburn Circle, or the West Virginia Legislature created West Virginia University, or the United States Congress passed the Morrill Act to establish land-grant universities, Morgantown residents made education a priority.

This year marks the 200^th anniversary of the Monongalia Academy which first placed Morgantown on the map as a seat of education.

“Morgantown’s long history as an education center began in 1814 with the founding of the Monongalia Academy,” said John Cuthbert, director of the West Virginia and Regional History Center. “This foundation grew with the additions of the Morgantown Female Academy and the Woodburn Female Seminary in the following decades and culminated with the creation of West Virginia University in 1867.”

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

We would like to mark the 70^th anniversary of D-Day (the invasion of Normandy by Allied troops in World War II) by telling the story of Private Ralph J. John, who served with the U.S. Army’s 3rd Battalion, Headquarters Company 112th Infantry, 28th Division. Read the rest of this entry »

Blog post by Michael Ridderbusch, Associate Curator, WVRHC.

Recently, the West Virginia and Regional History Center has turned its attention toward digitizing its collections of glass plate negatives.  Among the first to be scanned were the plates in the Newbraugh collection, a grouping of 91 images documenting Berkeley Springs that were collected by local historian Fred T. Newbraugh.  Current and future researchers can feel fortunate that Mr. Newbraugh chose to publish a number of these photographs with identification in his 1976 book, Warm Springs Echoes, since it’s probable that the content of many of these photos would otherwise have been left unidentified.

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Blog post by Stewart Plein, Rare Book Librarian.

Portrait Image Credit:  http://jrbenjamin.com/tag/thomas-jefferson-the-art-of-power/

The Rare Book Room in the West Virginia and Regional History Center owns many treasures from across the globe, from Austen to Diderot, and Linnaeus to Shakespeare.  The collection also includes many American gems; among these are books by Mark Twain and Isaac Asimov, as well as books associated with well-known individuals, such as the two volume legal dictionary once owned by the author of the Declaration of Independence, former President of the United States, and the founder of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson. Read the rest of this entry »

Guest blog post by Dr. Brian Luskey, Associate Professor, WVU Department of History

In “Slavery’s Capitalism,” a history course I taught this semester, my students and I tried a bit of an experiment. Taking advantage of the small class size (10 undergraduate students hailing from a variety of majors across the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences), students learned how to do history by researching, writing, and revising sections of a collaborative research paper based upon archival sources in the West Virginia & Regional History Center.

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

May 9, 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation designating Mother’s Day as an official holiday. Wilson issued his proclamation in response to a movement started by Anna Jarvis to honor and recognize mothers.  The holiday has its roots in Grafton, West Virginia. Read the rest of this entry »

The West Virginia University Libraries have selected five faculty members to participate in the sixth year of the Information Literacy Course Enhancement Program, an initiative to enhance courses so that students can improve their research skills and become more discerning when searching for and using information.

Meanwhile, the program will be holding a showcase of this past year’s collaborations on May 7.

The Information Literacy Course Enhancement Program, a collaborative endeavor between the Libraries and the Provost’s Office, focuses on fulfilling the University’s 2020 Strategic Plan which calls for “engaging undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in a challenging academic environment.” Information literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, and effectively use information.

“As WVU’s new Dean of Libraries, I’m proud that we have an established Information Literacy program that helps students become better researchers and gain more from the classroom experience,” said Dr. Jon E. Cawthorne, Dean of Libraries. “We have heard great feedback from faculty and students, and I’m looking forward to us working alongside another group of faculty.”

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