Barbara Wright Oral Histories of Virginia and West Virginia Folkways, 1994-1996

Repository:

Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University

Title:

Barbara Wright Oral Histories of Virginia and West Virginia Folkways

Collection No.:

SdArch 34

Date:

1994-1996

Extent:

9 folders, 14 audiocassettes, .2 Cubic Feet

Extent:

1.04 gigabytes (13 mp3 files) , 1.04 Gigabytes

Language of the Material:

English

Abstract:

Barbara Wright Oral Histories of Virginia and West Virginia Folkways, 1994-1996, is comprised of 13 interviews with individuals who recall life in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and West Virginia prior to the establishment of the Shenandoah National Park, as well as Wright's research materials regarding the CCC in Augusta County, photographs, and research notes on the town of Stokesville, Virginia.

Barbara Wright was raised in Hanover County, Virginia and studied at Madison College and Blue Ridge Community College, before graduating with a degree in History from Mary Baldwin College in 1996. She served on the board of the Augusta County Historical Society, starting in 1996, and was involved in Augusta County Historical Society Oral History Project conducted at that time. Wright conducted several of the interviews while working on her honors thesis at Blue Ridge Community College, which was later published as, "Some there be which have no memorial," in the VCCA Journal 9:1, in 1994. Her research on the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was the basis for her article, "The Civilian Conservation Corps in August a County, Virginia, 1933-1940," published in the Spring 1996 issue of the Augusta Historical Bulletin (included in the collection).

The collection is comprised of sound recordings, transcripts, photographs, and research notes related to folkways of people living in the mountains near the Shenandoah Valley, and the history of the CCC in Augusta County. Most of the interviewees are people born between 1910-1925, who lived in or near the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountain ranges in eastern Virginia and West Virginia. Interviewees recall childhood stories, and memories of livestock, churches, moonshine, and the CCC. One interview includes a tour of a gravesite now located within the Shenandoah National Park boundaries. Wright also records her own responses to the interviews, and recalls stories not captured on tape. The collection includes Wright's research materials related to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Augusta County. This includes "George Washington National Forest: a History," written by Jean L. Sattherwaite of the Forest Service Southern Region in 1991, photocopies of camp inspection reports from the 1930s, and other papers. The collection also includes Wright's research notes, newspaper clippings, and notes on the history of the town of Stokesville, Virginia, particularly related to the family of Ambrose Cramer.

The photographs depict old home sites on or near Shenandoah National Park land, including Vastine Fisher's paternal grandparents' home; cemeteries on private land above Shenandoah National Park land; photographs of the CCC camp sites at Mt. Solon and Grottoes, and other photographs that relate to interviews conducted by Wright.

Interviews are arranged in no particular order.