November 24, 2010
The West Virginia Archives and History Library of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History will continue its series of after hours lectures on Tuesday, Dec. 7, from 6 - 7:30 p.m. The session, entitled “Digging into the Draper Collection: Researching the Settlement of West Virginia,” will be conducted by Jaime Simmons, research specialist for archives and history.
The program will take place in the library at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston. All sessions are free and the public is invited to attend. The library will close at 5 p.m. and reopen at 5:45 p.m., for lecture guests and participants only.
Simmons will provide information on the contents of the Draper Collection, and will focus on the process of researching in the collection, how to use the indices and press-marks to access the collection, and how to locate additional information.
The Lyman C. Draper Manuscript Collection documents the period roughly between 1755 and 1815 and concentrates on the Trans-Allegheny West, including the Ohio River Valley and western Virginia. Draper, whose life spanned much of the 19th century, began gathering reminiscences and information during the 1840s, when people who had lived through the Revolutionary War and the settlement period in western Virginia, were still living. Housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Draper Collection is available on microfilm at the West Virginia Archives and History Library.
Advance registration for the workshop is not required, but is encouraged to help plan seating arrangements and ensure plenty of supplies and handouts are available. To register in advance, contact Robert Taylor, library manager, at (304) 558-0230, ext. 163, or by e-mail at Bobby.L.Taylor@wv.gov. Participants interested in registering by e-mail should send their name, telephone number and the name and date of the session. For additional information about the workshop, contact the Archives and History Library at (304) 558-0230.
The next session will have Dr. Robert Maslowski, former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist for the upper middle Ohio River basin for more than 25 years, discussing “A Primer on West Virginia Archaeology” on Jan. 5, 2011.
The Archives and History Library is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday. The library is closed on Sunday.
With the leadership of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, Kay Goodwin, cabinet secretary, the West Virginia Division of Culture and History brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Its administrative offices, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, are located at the Culture Center in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state archives and state museum. The Culture Center is West Virginia’s official showcase for the arts. The agency also operates a network of museums and historic sites across the state. For more information about the Division’s programs, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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