Appalachia and Garrett County, MD History: Appalachia History & Culture

By Elaine McMillion. Explore the rural communities of McDowell County, West Virginia, through this interactive documentary and warm portrayal featuring images, music, interviews, and the stories of over 30 residents.

"The term "Appalachian music" is in truth an artificial category, created and defined by a small group of scholars in the early twentieth century, but bearing only a limited relationship to the actual musical activity of people living in the Appalachian mountains. Since the region is not only geographically, but also ethnically and musically diverse (and has been since the early days of European settlement there) [1], music of the Appalachian mountains is as difficult to define as is American music in general."

Appalachia is a unique region in the Eastern United States with a distinct culture and history dating back thousands of years.

“Independent Vision: Self-Taught Artists from Appalachia” featured approximately 100 pieces of art from the Ramona Love Lampell and Millard Lampell Collection.
The artists included sculptors, painters, wood carvers and basket makers who have drawn upon their life experiences, knowledge of the natural environment, and readily available materials, such as wood, clay, stone, house paint and found objects, to create their art.

Article by Dr. Laura Ettinger about the travels and tribulations that midwife nurses in early 1900s Appalachia had to endure.

The History Collection's fascinating detail of the impact of the people and culture of Appalachia is found in food and entertainment, industry and business, music, literature, language, and history.

Includes an online Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English, MP3 sound transcripts of native speakers, annotated bibliography, full-text articles, and links to other sites.

Appalachian History has been digging up stories, quotes and anecdotes about the region since 2006. Special emphasis on the 1880s to 1950s time period, when the concept of ‘Appalachia’ as place emerged.

The culture of Appalachia consists of art and crafts, food, myths and folklore, multiple ethnic influences (including African, German, and Native American), and an array of stereotypes. It is a culture that essentially defined “Americana” as we know it today.

This museum was created to foster an understanding of the people of the Appalachian Mountains and to serve as a laboratory for new museum ideas. Through exhibits, publications, and special events, the Museum presents the rich traditions of the region. The Museum gives new meaning to life in western North Carolina in a manner that is authentic and non-stereotypical.

The Archives of Appalachia houses approximately 18 million manuscripts, 85,000 sound recordings, and 250,000 images relating to various Appalachian topics.

Contents are drawn from special collections of 28 Appalachian College Association libraries and consist of audio clips of traditional music, photographs, and a variety of documents. Collections: Cultural Environment, Daily Life and Customs, Education, Literature, Music, Natural Environment, Politics and Government, Religion and Beliefs, Visual Arts and Handcrafts, Work and Occupations.

Search engine and portal to the holdings of numerous libraries, archives, and museums. Indexed by: image, text, sound, physical object, timeline, location, language, subject, contributing institution. Partner institutions include: Western Carolina University, Appalachian State University, NC Dept of Cultural Resources, US Govt Printing Office (GPO), Kentucky Digital Library, Smithsonian, HathiTrust, and more.

The links below provide some useful background information about the Blue Ridge Parkway's history and construction that will help you to navigate and understand the historical materials included in Driving Through Time.

Thousands of articles on WV’s people and places, history, arts, science and culture.

Online archives from Kentucky colleges, universities, libraries and historical society repositories, including books, newspapers, journals, photographs, maps, oral histories, yearbooks, athletic publications, audio, and more, 1887-2012.

This crowdsourcing project, launched by documentary photographer Roger May, takes a look at Appalachia 50 years after the 1960s War on Poverty through photos taken by people who live and work there.

Special Collections was founded in 1977 as the Southern Highlands Research Center with the mission of collecting resources that document the diverse culture and history of Asheville and Western North Carolina, a mission we continue to this day. The collections include manuscripts, books, oral histories, photographs, and other materials.

The Southern Historical Collection (SHC) is home to a diverse collection of unique primary sources about the U.S. South, with strengths in the Antebellum era through the Civil Rights Movement. The collection supports research on a variety of topics, including community and family histories, the history of slavery and its afterlives, social change and activism in the South, Southern arts and literature, and business and labor.

An archival resource dedicated to collecting, preserving and disseminating vernacular music, art, and culture related to the American South.

Fifty two print and photo collections grouped under headings: Great Smoky Mountains Regional Collections, Student Publications, Tennessee Regional and Historical Collections, and University Publications.

Special Collections and University Archives is located in Carol M. Newman Library at Virginia Tech. Our holdings include manuscript collections, rare books, and records and publications relating to the history of the university. The collection also contains state, local and historical maps and photographs.

The mission of the West Virginia & Regional History Center is to acquire, provide access to, and preserve information resources in all formats which elucidate the history and culture of West Virginia and the central Appalachian region.

Collections: Cherokee Phoenix, Cherokee Traditions, Civil War Collection, Craft Revival, Great Smoky Mountains, Horace Kephart, Picturing Appalachia, Stories of Mountain Folk, Travel Western North Carolina, WCU Herbarium, WCU: Making Memories, WCU Oral History Collection.