Appalachian Studies Commons^™

Series Ii(A). Sermons. Folder 1. Sermons Of M. Homer Cummings, 1937-1960, Melville Homer Cummings

Cummings, Melville Homer, 1890-1978

This folder contains typescripts of approximately 10 sermons, some of which appear to be unfinished. Most of the ones that are dated were preached in 1937, with others delivered in 1940, 1941, and 1952.

The texts for the sermons come from throughout the Old and New Testaments. Two of the sermons are about the new year; the rest are on such domestic topics as “the home,” “the mother,” “the wife,” “the father,” and “the ideal husband.”

Series I. Personal Materials. Folder 7. Miscellaneous Material Of Rev. M. Homer Cummings, Melville Homer Cummings

Cummings, Melville Homer, 1890-1978

This folder contains approximately 15 miscellaneous items, including an unfinished sermon on Job; several poems; and ledger pages detailing Cummings’ account with the E. E. White Coal Company of Glen White, WV.

Series I. Personal Materials. Folder 6. Trevecca College Materials, 1959, Melville Homer Cummings

Cummings, Melville Homer, 1890-1978

This folder contains 4 documents from Cummings’ time at Nashville’s Trevecca College (formerly the Literary and Bible Training School and now Trevecca Nazarene University), from which he graduated in 1909. They are an “examination on theology,” what appear to be two versions of an “examination on homiletics,” a sermon on “the consequences of obedience and disobedience,” and the text of a speech he gave upon his graduation (and which he delivered again at Trevecca fifty years later).

Series I. Personal Materials. Folder 4. Methodist Church Conference Materials, N.D., Melville Homer Cummings

Cummings, Melville Homer, 1890-1978

The title of this folder may be somewhat inaccurate. It contains not “church conference materials,” but an essay on hymns, a brief handwritten letter to a Mrs. G. N. Shirey, and typescripts of approximately 10 sermons. Titles and texts include “Taking Offence at Christ” (Luke 7:29), “The Gospel Invitation” (Matthew 11:28-30), and “The Immortality of the Soul” (Job 14:14).

Series I. Personal Materials. Folder 3. Correspondence, 1922-1968, Melville Homer Cummings

Cummings, Melville Homer, 1890-1978

This folder contains one of Cummings’ “Our Weekly Message” newspaper columns and approximately a dozen letters written to or about him. They were composed between 1922 and 1968; topics include an invitation to become the pastor of a church in New Martinsville and several matters related to his hymnwriting work.

Series I. Personal Materials. Folder 2. Articles About Family Of M. Homer Cummings, 1922-1968, Melville Homer Cummings

Cummings, Melville Homer, 1890-1978

This folder contains 4 newspaper articles about members of Cummings’ family. There is a photograph of his grandson and great-grandson (Melville Homer Cummings III and IV) at the Cabell County courthouse on an unspecified election night; an article about Dr. Melville H. Cummings); an article about Lt. M. Homer Cummings, Jr’s experiences in Germany, including a visit to the Nuremberg war trials.

Series I. Personal Materials. Folder 1. Articles About Reverend M. Homer Cummings, 1923-1978, Melville Homer Cummings

Cummings, Melville Homer, 1890-1978

This folder contains approximately 40 newspaper articles about Cummings. The few that include identifying information were published in the Charleston Gazette, the Huntington Herald-Advertiser, and the Coalwood-Caretta News, with dates of publication ranging from 1935 to 1963.

The articles cover such topics as Cummings’ moves from Fayetteville to Williamstown and from Glasgow to Huntington, his 25^th and 50th anniversaries in the ministry, and his work as a composer of hundreds of hymns. The newspapers also published the complete texts of several of his sermons.

The Question, Sharon Ryan

Exhibit Panels

The Question is a project designed to inspire inquiry and respectful discussion about big ideas. WVU Libraries collaborates with The Question to bring relevant interactive elements to the Art in the Libraries exhibits.

thequestion.wvu.edu

West Virginia Waterscapes: Surface And Mineral Owners’ Perspectives On Groundwater Contamination Due To Natural Gas Extraction, Bethani Turley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the past decade, northwest West Virginia has experienced increasing natural gas extraction from the Marcellus shale. Because water usage for natural gas extraction is high and increasing, there has been a proliferation of concerns about gas extraction’s impacts on surface and groundwaters, especially how hydraulic fracturing and drilling impacts residents’ access to safe household well water. This issue is particularly salient in rural West Virginia, where many residents rely on groundwater wells for household uses. This thesis, based on 30 in-depth interviews with surface and mineral owners, explores resident perspectives and lived experience of natural gas extraction’s impacts on …

Swiss Settlement In Randolph County, West Virginia: A Study Of Land Deals, Policies, And Immigration, Elizabeth Satterfield

Munn Scholars Awards

No abstract provided.

Iron Road: The Rise Of Huntington, West Virginia, 1870-1920, Brooks Bryant

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The city of Huntington, West Virginia, did not occur gradually, nor did the city grow organically. Collis P. Huntington’s purchase of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in the winter of 1869 led to the conception of the first new city of a State born out of the Civil War. Collis Huntington specifically chose the future site of Huntington for the terminus of the C&O Railroad to reach areas rich in coal, timber, and agriculture in West Virginia, providing natural resources a way to market. For Collis P. Huntington to profit from shipping natural resources out of West Virginia, he needed …

Surviving Fallout In Appalachia: An Examination Of Class Differences Within Civil Defense Preparation In West Virginia During The Early Years Of The Cold War, Tristan Miranda Williams

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Civil defense and West Virginia are not likely to be considered in tandem. What would make West Virginia significant during the Cold War? West Virginia is a state that has been synonymous with family feuds, hillbillies, moonshine, and coal mining. Few have considered West Virginia beyond these stereotypes and scant work has been done beyond that. The impact of the Cold War has been looked at through multiple angles but few have looked at the significant role West Virginia played during this time. Possibly, few have even considered that it played a role at all. Through examination of primary sources …

"They Cannot Catch Guerrillas In The Mountains Any More Than A Cow Can Catch Fleas": Guerrilla Warfare In Western Virginia, 1861-1865, Karissa Marken

Masters Theses

The American Civil War unleashed great violence and chaos in the western mountains of Virginia. The guerrilla warfare there between Unionists and secessionists remained bitter throughout the war. No historical study has considered the entirety of pre-war western Virginia during the time it underwent a unique civil war within the context of the national struggle from 1861-1865. This study supports findings from studies of other areas of Appalachia that seek to explain the prevalence of such conflict in the mountains, challenges the myth of a Union Appalachia during the war, offers the backdrop for the political wrangling on both state …

Folk/Traditional Music Of West Virginia Arranged For Classical Guitar Ensemble, Júlio Ribeiro Alves

Music Faculty Research

My motivation for writing this book grew from my desire to better understand the people and the music heritage of West Virginia and to share the findings of my experience, with the guitar community, in the form of guitar ensemble arrangements.

Lyda Judson Hanifan, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Lyda J. Hanifan was one of the original staff members of the West Virginia Department of Education, and internationally celebrated as the first author to formulate the concept of social capital.

The African American Experience In Antebellum Cabell County, Virginia/West Virginia, 1810-1865, Cicero Fain

History Faculty Research

Located on the Ohio River in western Virginia, adjacent to southeastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky, antebellum Cabell County lay at the fulcrum of east and west, north and south, freedom and slavery. Possessed of a bountiful countryside—replete with wildlife, timber, pristine streams and creeks, and rich river-bottom soil along the navigable Ohio and Guyandotte rivers—it held great potential for settlers who sought to put down roots. Drawn by its promising location and cheap, arable land, migrants settled in the county in increasing numbers in the early 1800s, and many settlers took their slaves with them. Yet like most counties on …

Early Black Migration And The Post-Emancipation Black Community In Cabell County, West Virginia, 1865-1871, Cicero Fain

History Faculty Research

West Virginia’s formation divided many groups within the new state. Grievances born of secession inflamed questions of taxation, political representation, and constitutional change, and greatly complicated black aspirations during the state’s formative years. Moreover, long-standing attitudes on race and slavery held great sway throughout Appalachia. Thus, the quest by the state’s black residents to achieve the full measure of freedom in the immediate post-Civil War years faced formidable challenges. To meet the mandates for statehood recognition established by President Lincoln, the state’s legislators were forced to rectify a particularly troublesome conundrum: how to grant citizenship to the state’s black residents …

An Appeal For Racial Justice : The Civic Interest Progressives' Confrontation With Huntington, West Virginia And Marshall University, 1963-1965, Bruce A. Thompson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

In 1963, the shock waves of the sit-in movement and the growing black unrest throughout the country reached Huntington. This growing discontent with the status quo of segregation and racial discrimination and the impulse from the sit-in movement for direct, non-violent protest combined to mobilize several students at Marshall University who formed the Civic Interest Progressives (CIP), a biracial civil rights group.

West Virginia Folk Music: A Descriptive Guide To Field Recordings In The West Virginia And Regional History Collection, John A. Cuthbert

Bibliographies and Research Guides

West Virginia University's contribution to the foundation of modern folk music scholarship is widely recognized. Due to the pioneering achievements of its faculty, the University became an important center of folksong scholarship in the 1920s and 30s. John Harrington Cox's Folk-Songs of the South' served as both precedent and pattern for the myriad of subsequent publications upon which folksong study is based.Various works by Josiah Combs, who taught at the University for but a few years, and Louis Watson Chappell, who remained throughout his career, are equally notable if less obviously influential. The University's subsequent contributions to the field, however, …

0270: West Virginia International Women's Year Coordinating Committee Records, 1977, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Given the collection’s small size, the decision was made to keep the collection’s original order as found and not divide into series. Broader thematic content of the collection includes state level financial and treasurer’s papers organizing the conference as well as financial documents submitted to receive reimbursement from the IWY grant funds appropriated by Congress. Additional state materials include correspondence to and from the Treasurer for WV IWY, Betsy McCreight, publicity materials and brochures, reports, and financial material related to delegates attending the national conference.

Box 3 includes materials for the national IWY Conference, including manuals, publicity materials, and publications.

0264: Claren Martin Peoples Papers, 1940-1943, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

The collection consists of two copies of Peoples’ 1941 M.A. in Music Education thesis for The Ohio State University, radio transcripts intended to teach rural school children about music through patriotic songs, and three sets of sheet music related to Marshall, Huntington High School, and West Virginia.

0192: Mason-Jackson County Census And Marriage Records, 1806-1906, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection is composed of abstracts of county records, including marriage and census records from Jackson and Mason Counties in what was once Virginia and is now West Virginia. The Mason County marriages book also contains lists of undertakers and doctors in the county until 1906.

Oral History Interview: Alice Hall, Alice Hall

0064: Marshall University Oral History Collection

Alice Hall was born in December 1897 in Cabell County, WV. She lived with her grandfather on a farm in Putnam County, WV, after the death of her parents. During her interview, she discusses quilting and peddling food items in Huntington, WV, with her grandparents, the lack of supplies during World War I, and the rationing of sugar and coffee during World War II. She also focuses on folk medicine, with emphasis on the herbs and barks her uncle used to make medicines. In the audio clip provided, Mrs. Hall discusses food preservation, specifically making apple butter and preserves.

Oral History Interview: William T. Arnold, William T. Arnold

0064: Marshall University Oral History Collection

William T. Arnold (Bill Arnold), a Native West Virginian, lived the majority of his life in Clay County. Mr. Arnold spent his early childhood on a farm on Galon Mountain. After the death of his father, Mr. Arnold moved with his family to various towns within Clay County. In 1911, when he was eleven years old, Mr. Arnold started his first job in coal mining, working thirteen hours a night as a water dipper. When he was eighteen years old, Mr. Arnold began working as a postman and delivered mail on a route near the New River, between the towns …

A Survey Of The Snake-Handling Cult Of West Virginia, Kenneth Paul Ambrose

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

For over half a century the snake-handling cult has been active in the United States, especially in the Appalachian area. There has been little scientific information published about this cult. The two major works were mainly confined to a single church in Durham, North Carolina, and a single church in Scrabble Creek, West Virginia. This investigator studied four churches in West Virginia, and one in Durham, North Carolina, for two and a half years to gain a deeper understanding of these people and their religious behavior.

Uniting Conference Addresses, David Frederick Wertz

Uniting Conference Addresses

This volume contains 8 addresses by 4 speakers: the bishop of the West Virginia Area, the dean of the Duke Divinity School, the “minister of reconciliation” for the West Virginia Area, and the superintendent of the Buckhannon District.

Trinity Church, Huntington, West Virginia: Something Of Its Story, James Rodgers Haworth

Atkinson, Robert Poland, 1927-2012

This is Chapter XVI of Haworth's history of Trinity Episcopal Church from its beginnings in 1869 through the early 1960s. The book focuses primarily on the rectors who have served the church over the years; there are also chapters with such titles as “The Building of the Church,” “The Vestrymen,” “The Women,” and “The Sunday School.”

Trinity Church, Huntington, West Virginia: Something Of Its Story, James Rodgers Haworth

Tyler, S. Roger, 1878-1963

This is Chapters XI-XIV of Haworth's history of Trinity Episcopal Church from its beginnings in 1869 through the early 1960s. The book focuses primarily on the rectors who have served the church over the years; there are also chapters with such titles as “The Building of the Church,” “The Vestrymen,” “The Women,” and “The Sunday School.”

Thoughts Ii, S. Roger Tyler

Tyler, S. Roger, 1878-1963

According to the Preface, this book was “prepared in response to a number of requests which have come from Dr. Tyler’s friends and from those who have read the first volume, which was published in 1963” (p. v). Like its predecessor, it is a collection of articles published in two newspapers: the Advertiser in Huntington, West Virginia, and the Gazette in Charleston. Those articles were shortened versions of “sermons prepared and delivered by Dr. Tyler over a period of sixty years in the ministry.”

Thoughts, S. Roger Tyler

Tyler, S. Roger, 1878-1963

According to the title page, the book is a collection of articles published in two newspapers: the Advertiser in Huntington, West Virginia, and the Gazette in Charleston. Those articles were “based on sermons prepared and delivered by Dr. Tyler over a period of sixty years in the ministry.”