Libraries, Museums, and Archives for Researching Appalachia
Appalachian Collection @ Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA
Virginia Tech’s Carol M. Newman Library houses the university’s Special Collections. Here users can access manuscripts, archived materials, and historical materials from the region’s history. Special Collections includes an Appalachian Collection, began in 1988, which includes nearly 300 manuscripts. Information can be found on over 100 different railway systems, religious materials, family papers, and oral history collections.
Appalachian Cultural Museum at Appalachian State University
Boone, NC
Located at Appalachian State University, 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.
Note: the "Appalachian Cultural Museum" is a showcase of items from Appalachian State University Library's W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection as we track the progress of a two-year processing project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to eliminate the Appalachian Collection backlog.
Archives of Appalachia at East Tennessee State University
East Tennessee State University: Johnson City, TN
The Archives of Appalachia houses approximately 18 million manuscripts, 85,000 sound recordings, and 250,000 images relating to various Appalachian topics.
Photo credits Douglas Andrews and Jeremy Smith.
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Berea College Archives, Manuscripts and Artifacts Collections
Berea, KY
Hutchins Library’s Southern Appalachian Archives holds more than one hundred sixty separate collections including organizational records, personal papers, oral histories, photographs, and non-commercial audio and video recordings that document regional history and culture especially in the areas of activism, education, folklore, traditional music, and religious expression.
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The Library’s Weatherford-Hammond Mountain Collection started in 1914, includes over 21,000 volumes of published material on all aspects of the region’s history and culture including newly published as well as out-of-print works.
Berea’s Appalachian Center Artifacts and Exhibits Studio maintains and makes available a teaching and research collection containing nearly 3,000 objects documenting life in the region. Collection highlights include mountain domestic life, ca. 1850-1940; regional craft traditions, especially textiles, pottery and woodworking; stereotypes of Appalachian people; and the history of Berea College.
Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection at University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY
The University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center successfully completed a NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources digitization grant, resulting in online access to 132 cubic feet from the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection.
The materials focus on 189 years of economic development in the eastern Kentucky coalfield from 1788 to 1976. The ten individual collections document the search for, extraction of, and distribution of coal, oil, and natural gas resources in Breathitt, Boyd, Clark, Floyd, Harlan, Lawrence, Letcher, Perry, and Powell counties; the creation of railroads to bring these raw materials to industrial manufacturers and electrical power generators across the United States; and the company towns, their services, and the individual lives that grew up to sustain and make possible this economic development.
These collections include the Benham Coal Company records, Wheelwright collection, Sherrill Martin collection, Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company and Lexington and Eastern Railway Company records, and the Kentucky Union Land Company records. Additional details on the project and other Appalachian-related collections at UK SCRC can be found on the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection page.
Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives
at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Libraries
Knoxville, TN
Housed at the John C. Hodges Library at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives focuses on select topics in East Tennessee and the surrounding Appalachian area. These include the Civil War, Native Southeastern American history, and the music, literature, cinema, and performing arts of the eastern Tennessee region. Our Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project acquires and preserves materials in all formats, documenting the history and culture of the mountain regions of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Recently the library has developed a collection related to the history of moonshine and distilling in the region as well. Access to a wide array of these materials can be found through our Digital Collections.
Blue Ridge Pride LGBTQIA+ Archive; UNC Asheville
UNC Asheville: Asheville, NC
LGBTQIA+ Archive Manuscript Collections
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Holly Boswell Kindred Spirits Collection, [M2019.08} Holly Boswell (1950-2017) was a pioneering transgender activist, credited with being one of the earliest adopters of the term “transgender” and the creation of the transgender symbol. This collection contains Issues of Gender Quest from Spring 1998 to Autumn 2001, excerpts from writings on spirituality, and materials relating to the operation of Kindred Spirits including correspondence, meeting materials, financial documents regarding the organization’s status as a nonprofit, and materials relating to the construction of the Bodhi Tree House in Black Mountain, NC
Carol Duin Collection of LGBT Materials, [M2012.09.01-02] – This collection, created by local gay rights advocate Carol Duin, contains personal papers, speeches, presentations, correspondence, educational materials, articles, publications, and discussion materials related to advocacy and education about lesbian, gay, bi, trans-gendered, and queer lives.
Pride Newspaper Collection, [M2019.04] – The Pride Newspaper Collection contains 11 boxes of LGBTQ+ periodicals published in Western North Carolina from 1987-2010. Included are Community Connections, The Front Page, Out in Asheville, Stereotypd, and Q Notes, plus LGBTQ themed articles from other regional newspapers.
Buncombe County Special Collections at Pack Memorial Public Library
The Buncombe County Special Collections Library (formerly the North Carolina Room) is located on the lower level of Pack Memorial Library in downtown Asheville. Buncombe County Special Collections specializes in the social, cultural, and natural history of Asheville, Buncombe County, and Western North Carolina. Resources available to the public include books, maps, photographs, manuscript collections, oral histories, and more.
Dalton State College Bandy Center
Welcome to the Bandy Heritage Center! As a community outreach program of Dalton State College, the Bandy Heritage Center’s professional and passionate approach to local history strives to ignite curiosity about the past, spark conversation in the present, and shape the future. This mission is achieved through collaboration with partnering historical and cultural organizations throughout the area, enabling the Center to fulfill its role as the primary source for information related to the region’s historic resources.
Digital Library of Appalachia
Appalachian College Association Central Library. The Digital Library of Appalachia provides online access to archival and historical materials related to the culture of the southern and central Appalachian region. The contents of the DLA are drawn from special collections of Appalachian College Association member libraries.
Frank Foster Memorial Library
The Frank Foster Memorial Library is maintained by the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition in Cincinnati, and is available to the community, researchers, and the general public by appointment. Books and other materials are organized by categories such as History, Appalachia, Culture, Community Organizing, Community Studies, Poetry, Children’s Books and Resources.
Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center
The Frank Foster Memorial Library is maintained Housed in an award-winning repurposed historic barn building on the Fairmont State University campus, the Frank & Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center is home to the Ruth Ann Musick folklore archives, the Phyllis W. Moore West Virginia Authors archives, and the Patty Looman collection. These collections and additional archival materials can be made available for scholars and student researchers. The Center is part of the College of Liberal Arts and houses the University’s undergraduate programs in folklore and museum studies. The Center serves the University and the broader community through scholarship, publications, workshops, exhibitions, and outreach events. the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition in Cincinnati, and is available to the community, researchers, and the general public by appointment. Books and other materials are organized by categories such as History, Appalachia, Culture, Community Organizing, Community Studies, Poetry, Children’s Books and Resources.
Glenville State University Archive
This archives' primary purpose is to maintain and preserve historic materials related to the development of Glenville State University and the history of north-central West Virginia. The historic materials housed in this collection are available for research by faculty, staff, students, and the general public.
The Kentucky Digital Library
The Kentucky Digital Library is built to enhance scholarship, research and lifelong learning through the establishment of access to shared digital archival collections in the state of Kentucky. It also provides guidance and instruction for Kentucky libraries, archives, historical societies and museums on applying appropriate technologies used in the production of digital library resources.
Kentucky Digital Newspaper Program
The University of Kentucky Libraries has the world's largest collection of Kentucky newspapers. The Microfilm Holdings Database displays UK Libraries' microfilm holdings (available at UK and through ILL) and the Kentucky Digital Newspaper Program (KDNP) is devoted to the preservation and digitization of Kentucky's historic newspapers with free and open access to anyone with an internet connection. This digital repository is growing daily, with additional free content in the Library of Congress' Chronicling America ,and Newspapers.com's free access portal from the University of Kentucky campus. Each of Kentucky's 120 counties has representation in one, two, or all three digital newspaper databases with dozens of Eastern Kentucky titles available.
Library of Appalachian Preaching
The Library of Appalachian Preaching is a collaborative effort, involving the Center for Sermon Studies, the MU Libraries, the Department of English, and the Digital Humanities program.The Library offers online access to sermons and other addresses delivered within Appalachia, or elsewhere by preachers with ties to the Appalachian region. The first phase involves sermons housed in Marshall's Special Collections Department; other materials will be added as time and other resources permit.
Library of Congress Manuscripts Reading Room
Washington, D.C.
The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with more than 130 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 58 million manuscripts.
This Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room includes links to finding aids and the American Memory online collections. It also includes information on Reading Room policies and procedures, instructions for searching manuscript catalog records in the Library's online catalog, online exhbits and resources, and the Division's annual acquisitions reports.
McConnell Library at Radford University
Radford, VA
The Appalachian Collection contains manuscripts and other primary materials that document the history and culture of Southwest Virginia and Appalachia. Collections include the Highland Summer Conference Collection and the Virginia, Iron, Coal and Coke Company Collection. In addition to these collections, McConnell Library has an extensive collection of books, CDs, video recordings, journals, and other materials related to Appalachia and Southwest Virginia
National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
The mission of the NUCMC program is to provide and promote bibliographic access to the nation's documentary heritage. This mission is realized by NUCMC production of cataloging describing archival and manuscript collections held by eligible repositories located throughout the United States and its territories. The program's mission is further realized by the provision of free searching, via NUCMC gateways, of archival and manuscript cataloging in the RLG and OCLC union catalogs. Collection of links to sites in various states.
Repositories of Primary Sources for Eastern States at University of Idaho
The University of Idaho Library’s Special Collections includes a repository of primary sources about the Eastern United States and Canada, arranged by state. Listings include information on public and university libraries, as well as museums, societies, and associations.
Southern Historical Collection at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
The Southern Historical Collection (SHC) has developed a large-scale digitization program that is designed to provide online access to entire manuscript collections or to substantial portions of collections. The collections listed were digitized in whole or in part under this program. Clicking on a collection name will take you to the collection's finding aid (a descriptive guide to the collection's contents). To search for other SHC collections or other digitized collections in UNC-Chapel Hill's University Library.
Special Collections at UNC Asheville
Special Collections at UNC Asheville collects manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, and other materials that document Asheville and Western North Carolina. Special Collections at UNCA was founded in 1977 as the Southern Highlands Research Center with a goal of documenting the diversity of urban Appalachia and Asheville.
University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center
The University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center successfully completed a NEH Humanities Collections and Reference Resources digitization grant, resulting in online access to 132 cubic feet from the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection.
The materials focus on 189 years of economic development in the eastern Kentucky coalfield from 1788 to 1976. The ten individual collections document the search for, extraction of, and distribution of coal, oil, and natural gas resources in Breathitt, Boyd, Clark, Floyd, Harlan, Lawrence, Letcher, Perry, and Powell counties; the creation of railroads to bring these raw materials to industrial manufacturers and electrical power generators across the United States; and the company towns, their services, and the individual lives that grew up to sustain and make possible this economic development.
These collections include the Benham Coal Company records, Wheelwright collection, Sherrill Martin collection, Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company and Lexington and Eastern Railway Company records, and the Kentucky Union Land Company records. Additional details on the project and other Appalachian-related collections at UK SCRC can be found on the Bert T. Combs Appalachian Collection page.
Virginia Memory at Library of Virginia
Virginia Memory is part of the online presence of the Library of Virginia, the state archives and reference library at the seat of government for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia Memory has been designed as a gateway to the Library of Virginia's digital collections, whether those items are indexed and delivered through traditional library systems, offered in online exhibitions, organized as resources for educators and students, or presented as research articles by staff who work with the collections on a daily basis.
West Virginia Mine War Museum
The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum houses a growing collection of almost 900 objects in our trust, focused on the history and practice of underground coal mining, the United Mine Workers, domestic and work life in the central Appalachian coalfields, and the Mine Wars era (~1900-1921).Many of these objects can be browsed publicly through our online exhibits, and researchers may schedule to visit our museum and study the artifacts in-person. Our library includes nearly 350 books on labor and regional history, and an additional collection of yet-uncataloged social movement and industry publications. We also have a significant collection of documents and other paper materials which we have not been able to fully catalog, although visiting researchers may gain access through special arrangements with staff.