Tag: Exhibit

New Exhibit Brings W.Va. Coal Mining History To Nation’s Capital

From March 16 to July 6, the National Archives will display a new exhibit entitled “Power & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey.” It features more than 200 photographs taken by documentary photographer Russell Lee.

Coal mining has long served a place of importance in Appalachian history. But a new exhibit in Washington, D.C. will help the region’s industrial past reach a wider audience later this week.

From March 16 to July 6, the National Archives will display a new exhibit entitled “Power & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey.” It features more than 200 photographs taken by documentary photographer Russell Lee.

In 1946, Lee conducted a survey across 13 U.S. states, documenting the inner workings of the coal industry and its impact on miners and their families.

Alongside his wife Jean, Lee captioned the collection of works slated for display. His survey followed a series of strikes from coal miners that had originally been met with national skepticism, according to the National Archives website.

The exhibit spans 3,000 square feet of the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery. It also features a handwritten note from President Harry Truman on the strikes, and several other primary sources.

The exhibit is free and open to members of the public.

For more information visit the National Archives website at https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2024/nr24-13.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd Traveling Exhibit Opens to the Public

The exhibit titled, “Robert C. Byrd: Senator, Statesman, West Virginian,” is a two-year, traveling exhibit featuring the life and legacy of U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd.

Jody Brumage, the archivist and office manager at Shepherd University’s Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education, says this is the first narrative presentation of Byrd’s life and career since his passing in 2010.

“The exhibit runs all the way from his birth and his childhood in West Virginia’s coalfields, all the way up through his rise to both chambers of West Virginia’s state legislature into the House of Representatives and then into the U.S. Senate,” Brumage explained.

Senator Byrd holds the record as the longest-serving U.S. Senator in history.

Ray Smock, the Director of the Robert C. Byrd Center, explains how the exhibit is displayed on large, colorful panels.

“The exhibit itself is printed on a fabric,” Smock said, “and what it is, is it’s photographs and it’s documents from the Byrd Collection; some artifacts, photographs of artifacts and these [are] dramatically presented in a designed, graphic way.”

Smock says he hopes the exhibit starts a conversation among West Virginians – looking at the late senator’s accomplishments but also at the controversial aspects of his life.

Visitors will be able to read letters Byrd wrote, see artwork he did as a child, and other artifacts from his campaigns.

The exhibit will be open Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. beginning Monday, May 2, 2016 at the Robert C. Byrd Center at Shepherd University. It will be available at this location through May 20, 2016.

The exhibit will then travel throughout the state, eventually making its way to Charleston in November 2017 – in time for the celebration of Byrd’s 100th birthday.

Rockefeller Legacy Exhibit Opens at WVU & Online

A new exhibit has opened at West Virginia University chronicling the legacy of former Senator Jay Rockefeller.

The West Virginia and Regional History Center opened the Rockefeller exhibit Tuesday. Titled, ‘Jay Rockefeller: A Legacy of Leadership,’ it’s located in Wise Library’s Rockefeller Gallery on the Morgantown campus of West Virginia University. Much of the content is also available online.

The exhibit includes memorabilia from Senator Rockefeller’s early years in West Virginia, his election to the United States Senate, and some of his many accomplishments during his long career as a U.S. senator.

Also available are the Rockefeller Legacy Memos, a collection of 12 memos detailing the senator’s work in health care reform; West Virginia’s jobs, economy and industry; children, families and education; and veterans’ affairs.

In 2014, the university announced its library would serve as Rockefeller’s official senatorial archive. That same day, WVU President Gordon Gee also announced the creation of a school in the Senator’s namesake called the John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics. It opened in the fall.

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