Heritage
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
West Virginia Instrument Anthology at The ...

Madeline Ricks is an AmeriCorps member with AFNHA, serving as the Collections Preservation Coordinator for The Augusta Heritage center in Elkins, WV. She has begun writing a new blog series for the Augusta website. Beginning with the African origins of the banjo, Madeline will take readers on a journey through the histories and cultural impacts of the instruments played in West Virginia’s musical traditions.

West Virginia Instrument Anthology at The Augusta Heritage Center
Heritage
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
The Stories They Tell: Upshur County Images, ...

There are many interesting and unique materials housed in the Upshur County Historical Society Document Repository that have never been displayed in an exhibit. Some materials have been overlooked because, while interesting, they relate to a topic that is too narrow to warrant an entire exhibit. This year’s exhibit gives space for these materials to shine.

The Stories They Tell: Upshur County Images, Objects, Voices, and Places
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
Preserving Black History for the Next ...

On June 19, Pleasant Green Church in Hillsboro underwent two restoration projects in collaboration with the Forest Service, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, AFNHA AmeriCorps, and Cultural Heritage in the Forest. The Forest Service creates partnerships like these within local communities to help support efforts of preservation. This partnership is overwhelmingly meaningful to us here at the Forest and AFNHA - connecting with Black students and sharing with them our state’s history is invaluable to the future of diverse involvement, public awareness, and funding for these sites. There is no West Virginia History without Black History, and it was our honor to share with them this part of their cultural past.

Heritage
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
My Journey Through 4-H

This term in 2023-2024, my involvement with the 4-H History Round-Up project and my participation at 4-H Camp evolved together as the theme of this year’s camp was “A Journey Through 4-H”. The theme took campers through the past and into what may be the future of 4-H in 2115. That faraway date marked the 200-year anniversary of the world’s first 4-H Camp in 1915, “Camp Good Luck”, which took place in Randolph County! This theme gave me the role of putting all the Randolph County 4-H history I’ve learned in my service to direct use.

My Journey Through 4-H
Conservation
Benjamin Duvall-Irwin
Citizen Science Education Program on Non-Native ...

Every March the WV Division of Forestry organizes 4 citizen science lessons for 5th graders at Petersburg Elementary School. These lessons are about Non-Native and Invasive Species (NNIS). We teach these students what non-native and invasive species are, how they spread, how to identify specific species, and how to use GPS data to locate, track, and record information on them.

Citizen Science Education Program on Non-Native and Invasive Species

Randolph County

Preserving Traditions at the Augusta Heritage Center

Preserving Traditions at the Augusta Heritage Center

Elkins, West Virginia has the unique distinction of being home to many musicians who play traditional Appalachian “old time” music. Elkins is also home of the Augusta Heritage Center, a non-profit organization that began conducting music, crafts and dance workshops as well as concerts, dances and audio and video documentation beginning in 1973 and celebrating its fiftieth year in 2023. AmeriCorps Member Josh Wanstreet is helping Augusta preserve traditions through archives, music lessons, and more.

Randolph County Museum’s New Exhibit

Randolph County Museum’s New Exhibit

“This year as an AmeriCorps member has been one full of learning. I have experienced much of what I expected and an equal amount of things I did not expect, but am endlessly grateful for. One experience I anticipated with enthusiasm was the opportunity to work hands-on with an exhibit at the Randolph County Museum. As with any new job, however, crafting a museum exhibit, especially for the first time, can be an intimidating task.”

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Uncovering Civil War Era Graffiti

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Uncovering Civil War Era Graffiti

Sammy Ryder recently had the opportunity to participate in a plaster stabilization workshop at the Beverly Heritage Center. Chris Mills, a plaster expert, came to work on the second floor of the Crawford Building, which served as McClellan’s headquarters in Beverly. She worked with him for a few days learning about how to stabilize plaster and the proper way to uncover Civil War era graffiti.

Camp Pioneer’s History Makes Memories

Camp Pioneer’s History Makes Memories

History and memory are intertwined. For a place such as Camp Pioneer, this is certainly true. Though I came to Camp Pioneer with little knowledge of what the 4-H experience offered, I can say that of the stories I’ve come across so far, 4-H Camp is one of the most memorable parts of that experience.

When I first arrived at Camp Pioneer to start my service, I remember the stacks of 4-H Camp group photos being among the first things to greet me in my new office space. They’d been framed by the previous AmeriCorps member and awaited their return to the walls of the main building for display. They had been displayed improperly before, prompting a need for a new display. This was a project I’d become a part of very soon, but not one I yet realized I’d help complete.

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Telling Civil War Stories with a New Window Exhibit

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Telling Civil War Stories with a New Window Exhibit

The Beverly Heritage Center is composed of four historical buildings, dating from 1808 to 1907 that showcase a range of architectural styles and original purposes. An element of exhibition design here is negotiating around this pre-existing infrastructure, such as the large windows in the Aries Hill Building (1907).

During the Civil War, several buildings in the town of Beverly were used as hospitals for both sides of the war. After the Battle of Philippi, one of the first amputations of the Civil War was performed in town by Dr. John Huff; where he used a butcher knife and a carpenter saw to treat a Confederate soldier who had been hit in the leg by a cannonball. In the First Campaign room, we display the saw used in this operation, so a depiction of this medical scene themed perfectly with the rest of the exhibit.

Wild and Wonderful Women of West Virginia: Celebrating Women’s History Month

Wild and Wonderful Women of West Virginia: Celebrating Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month. So . . . Happy Women’s History Month!! This month is built to honor and celebrate all the women in the past, present, and future. How I’m celebrating this month is by sharing the untold stories of some of our influential women in Randolph County’s history. This past month I have been spreading the word on social media to share the stories of these amazing women.

The Wild and Wonderful World of Rural 19th Century Medicine

The Wild and Wonderful World of Rural 19th Century Medicine

One of the Beverly Heritage Center’s most intriguing artifacts is an account book from the mid 19th century. It is an unassuming thing, the covers have been lost long ago and the pages darkened from their original white to a soft brown. In addition to the change in their color, the pages stiffened over time and some of the edges are prone to flaking. It sometimes feels like the book will fall apart in your hands as you flip through it.

The Potential of the West Virginia Railroad Museum

The Potential of the West Virginia Railroad Museum

When I began my first service term as an AmeriCorps with AFNHA at the West Virginia Railroad Museum, I didn’t know a lot about railroads. And now, starting my second term at the same site, I’m still no expert. But what I have learned is that engaging with this history is creative work because there are so many ways a person can start, and so many places they can end up. Read more of Emma’s story!

A Celebration! Rich Mountain, 160 Years Later.

A Celebration! Rich Mountain, 160 Years Later.

To honor and celebrate the 160th anniversary of McClellan's Union victory, the Beverly Heritage Center and the Rich Mountain Battlefield Foundation is planning the first ever Rich Mountain Memorial March and Fun Run! On July 10th from 10 am to 5 pm, this celebration will combine the history of the battle and a fun run into one event! Our event will be a five mile walk from the top of Rich Mountain into the town of Beverly. Find out more inside!

Connecting People Across Time Through Forgotten Bits of History

Connecting People Across Time Through Forgotten Bits of History

I came to AFNHA AmeriCorps in 2019 from Washington, DC, where I held a two-year post-doctoral appointment in the Education Department of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. During my first year with AmeriCorps, I served within the Heritage Community Development Program as a museum associate at the Randolph County Museum (RCM) in Beverly and as an interpretive coordinator for 4-H Camp Pioneer, where I conducted oral histories, wrote grants, and completed a digital archives project. Both experiences broadened my skills in museum collections, archives, curation, and community engagement.

Projects from the Beverly Heritage Center, a review.

Projects from the Beverly Heritage Center, a review.

Join Adam with the Beverly Heritage Center! “Since February of 2020, I have been serving with the BHC. In that time, I have worked in the collections department, with most of my time spent assessing and cataloging documents. While this work is highly important to the goals of the BHC and there have been genuinely interesting moments and items during it all, it unfortunately does not make for the most exciting reading. Instead, I will write about some of the current projects at the BHC that I have been involved in recently.”

 

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