You may go directly to the collection,
Tending the Commons:
Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia, in American Memory.
Tending the Commons: Folklife
and Landscape in Southern West Virginia
documents traditional and current day uses of South West Virginia's Big Coal River
Valley as documented in 679 sound recordings and 1,256 photographs. Big Coal River
Valley mountains have supported a way of life for many generations that entail
hunting, gathering, subsistence gardening, as well as coal mining and timbering.
The collection also documents community cultural events such as storytelling,
baptisms in the river, cemetary customs, and the spring "ramp" feasts using the
wild leek native to the region.
These online exhibits
provide context and additional information about this collection.
Seasonal
Round of Activities on Coal River
Stalking the
Mother Forest: Voices Beneath the Canopy
American Ginseng
and the Idea of the Commons
Ramp Suppers,
Biodiversity, and the Integrity of "The Mountains"
Seining for Hellgrammites
on Coal River
These historical
era(s) are best represented
in the collection, although they may not be all-encompassing.
Expansion and Reform, 1801-1861
The Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877
Development of the Industrial United States, 1876-1915
Emergence of Modern America, 1890-1930
| related
collections and exhibits |
These collections
and exhibits contain thematically-related primary and secondary sources. Also
browse the Collection
Finder for more related material on the
American Memory Web site.
American
Life Histories, 1936-1940
California as I Saw It:
First Person Narratives, 1849-1900
The Northern
Great Plains, 1880-1920
Panoramic Maps, 1847-1929
The South
Texas Border, 1900-1920
Touring Turn-of-the-Century
America, 1880-1920
Recommended additional sources of information.
Read More About It! - A bibliography
Specific guidance
for searching this collection.
Search
the collection using the keyword search, or by browsing the Subject
Index, or Geographic
Index, You may also browse by Photo
Title List or Audio
Title List. For help with search words, go to the Synonym
List.
For help with search strategies,
see Finding Items
in American Memory.
No special viewers are needed to the
transcribed texts or the images of the book pages in this collection. Viewing
the SGML versions of the text requires a special viewer. For help with the viewer,
go to American Memory Viewer
Information.
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