Sept. 21, 2012
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A museum consultant and exhibit developer will use historic postcards to illustrate Charleston’s changing skyline over the past 200 years during an Oct. 2, 2012, lecture in Charleston.
The free program titled “Postcards of Charleston” begins at 6 p.m. in the Archives and History Library in the Culture Center.
Stan Bumgardner will discuss various factors that shaped the capital city’s look. His presentation will focus primarily on the downtown area, namely Capitol Street in the heart of Charleston’s business section.
Bumgardner has been a professional historian for more than 20 years. He has worked at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, for the West Virginia History Film Project, at West Virginia Archives and History, and as acting director of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History’s Museums section. Between 2005 and 2009, he served as creative director for the West Virginia State Museum renovation. In 2009, Bumgardner developed the South Charleston Museum Foundation’s new Belgian glassworkers exhibit, and he is collaborating with the museum to document the memories and photographs of retired Kanawha Valley chemical industry workers. He also created a traveling exhibit for the documentary The Great Textbook War and helped write an accompanying curriculum for the documentary and exhibit.
Bumgardner is the author of The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia: Children-Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (1996)and Charleston (2006). He also haswritten articles for American History, Goldenseal, and Wonderful West Virginia magazine.
On Oct. 2, the library will close at 5 p.m. and reopen at 5:45 p.m. for participants only. For planning purposes, participants are encouraged to register for the lecture, but advance registration is not required to attend. To register in advance, contact Robert Taylor, library manager, by e-mail at bobby.l.taylor@wv.gov or at (304) 558-0230, ext. 163. Participants interested in registering by e-mail should send their name, telephone number and the name and date of the session. For additional information, contact the Archives and History Library at (304) 558-0230.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The Division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the Division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
