West Virginia State Guide
Related Resources
Folklife in Your State: West Virginia
The rich and varied folk traditions of West Virginia
are well represented in the collections of the American
Folklife Center. Among its recordings are: interviews
with the Hammons family, documenting the family's musical
and story-telling traditions; Pentecostal religious services;
folk music and folklore of bituminous coal miners; and
hundreds of hours of other folk music, including fiddle
tunes, hammered dulcimer, banjo, and guitar. West
Virginia's Local Legacies Projects, an exploration
of local traditions and celebrations, and a concert Webcast
of Gandydancer are available on the Center's Web page.
America's Library is especially designed for elementary
and middle school students.
Explore
the States: West Virginia
Jump Back in Time
John
Brown Took Harpers Ferry Hostage, October 16, 1859
West
Virginia Admitted as the 35th State in the Union, June
20, 1863
Humor’s
Edge: Cartoons by Ann Telnaes
This exhibition celebrates Ann Telnaes' generous gift
of eighty–one original drawings that represent the
range of themes that engage this gifted artist who has
recently emerged as a leader in American editorial cartooning.
The section "Put
It on Your Tab" displays West Virginia Senator
Robert Byrd's support of mining.
Bibliographies and Guides
U.S. State
Poets Laureate
This site provides the names of all current state poets
laureate of the United States. It also includes a history
of the laureateship in each state, as well the District
of Columbia, and attempts to provide a comprehensive listing
of all prior state poets laureate. Included is information on the position of State Poet Laureate in West Virginia.
The Guide
to Law Online
Guide to Law Online, prepared by the Law Library of
Congress Public Services Division, is an annotated guide
to sources of information on government and law available
online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable
sites for legal information on U.S states and territories,
including West
Virginia.
Prints
& Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)
Search PPOC using the subject heading United
States--West Virginia to find digital images related
to West Virginia, such as prints, photographs, and political
cartoons. Search in PPOC using the term West Virginia or names of cities,
towns, and sites to locate additional images.
Primary Sources by State
The Library of Congress has rich documents and artifacts
from every state, the U.S. territories, and the District
of Columbia. Click on West
Virginia to view historic artifacts and cultural materials
from the state.
Creating a Primary Source Archive: All History Is Local
Examine the interplay between national,
state, local, and personal history. Students produce a
digital collection of primary sources from their family
or local community based on the collections in American
Memory.
Exploring Community Through Local History: Oral Stories, Landmarks and Traditions
Students explore the local history of the community in which they live through written and spoken stories; through landmarks such as buildings, parks, restaurants, or businesses; and through traditions such as food, festivals and other events of the community or of individual families.
Local History: Mapping My Spot
Students create their town’s history for coming generations and place themselves on the map in a literal as well as figurative sense, by producing portions of an updated version of an early twentieth century panoramic map from the American Memory collections.
June
20
On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the thirty-fifth
state in the Union. The land that formed the new state formerly
constituted part of Virginia. The two areas had diverged
culturally from their first years of European settlement.
Small
farmers generally settled the western portion of the
state, including the counties that later formed West Virginia;
the eastern portion was dominated by a powerful minority
class of wealthy slaveholders.
October
16
Late on the night of October 16, 1859, John Brown and
twenty-one armed followers stole into the town of Harper's
Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) as most of its residents
slept. The men--among them three free blacks, one freed
slave, and one fugitive slave--hoped to spark a rebellion
of freed slaves and to lead an "army of emancipation"
to overturn the institution of slavery by force.
Veterans
History Project Home Page
The Veterans History Project (VHP) collects and preserves the remembrances
of American war veterans and civilian workers who supported
them. Browse the database by state
of residence to locate veterans from West
Virginia.
|
|
The
Library of Congress >> Researchers >> Virtual
Programs & Services
Top
of Page
