This article appeared in the Volume 4, Issue 3 Winter 2024 issue of the Appalachian Curator. Click here to view a PDF of the full issue.
By Gene Hyde (UNC Asheville) and Liz Harper (Western Carolina University)
Welcome to the Winter 2024 issue of the Appalachian Curator. This issue features several articles about collections from institutions in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Jasper-Waugh Quasebarth describes the Appalachian collections at Ohio State University’s Center for Folklore Studies, while Harrison Wick writes about the digitization of the James Dougherty Collection at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Stewart Plein of West Virginia University presents a fascinating example of her scholarship on how publishers portrayed Appalachia on book covers, examining various editions of Charles Neville Buck’s novel The Call of the Cumberlands to illustrate how local color was presented. Kellen Carpenter from Western Carolina University describes the collaborative effort between WCU and the University of North Carolina Asheville to develop the Southern Appalachian Digital Collections website.
Three articles are about Appalachian archivists. Jeremy A. Smith of ETSU writes a warm welcome to two new archivists, Kim Larmee at University of Virginia at Wise and Sarah Insalaco, the Flood Recovery Archivist at the Hindman Settlement School. Tim Binkley of Berea College welcomes Emily Hilliard in the newly created position of Berea College Folklorist. And I write about our newly funded Bill and Alice Hart internship at UNC Asheville, which funds UNC Asheville students to work on Appalachian collections in Special Collections. The first Hart Internship student is Deb Erwin. Welcome to all our new regional archivists!
And, last but by no means least, we have our usual column on New Acquisitions in Appalachian Archives.
Do you have an update about your repository? A new initiative to share with the Appalachian archival community? A collection you’d like to highlight? New resources to share? We would love to hear from you and help you share your stories with your colleagues. If you have a story suggestion or want to submit an article, please contact Liz Harper (harpere@email.wcu.edu) or Gene Hyde (ghyde@unca.edu).
Possible story ideas include:
- community archiving projects
- digitization projects
- histories and profiles of archival repositories
- profiles of archivists and donors
- descriptions of collections
- articles on the craft and practice of archival work
- lists of new acquisitions
- upcoming workshops or training opportunities
- upcoming or current exhibits and events
- news about grants or collaborations
- or anything else related to Appalachian archives
