Denise Giardina, Author, Papers
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3740
Papers of Appalachian author Denise Giardina, whose 1987 novel Storming Heaven received the W. D. Weatherford Award, and 1992 novel The Unquiet Earth received the American Book Award and the Lillian Smith Book Award for fiction. The collection includes research notebooks and draft manuscripts of her historical novels Good King Harry, Storming Heaven, The Unquiet Earth, Saints and Villains, and Emily's Ghost.
The collection also includes five 5.25 in. floppy computer disks containing electronic files and Giardina's notes, drafts for an unfinished and unpublished work of nonfiction entitled "The State of Appalachia", and a draft of a play about Senator Robert C. Byrd entitled "Robert and Ted." Digital files also include the script for a speech given by Giardina at a high school graduation.
Additional material pertains to her personal and professional life, covering topics including her childhood an Italian heritage, her travels, and her campaign for Governor of West Virginia in 2000.
Series include:
Series 1. Floppy Disks (undated), box 1
Series 2. Good King Harry (1984, undated), boxes 1-2
Series 3. Storming Heaven (undated), boxes 2-4
Series 4. The Unquiet Earth (undated), boxes 4-5
Series 5. Saints and Villains and Fallam's Secret (undated), box 5
Series 6. Emily's Ghost (2006-2009, undated), box 6
Series 7. Miscellaneous Manuscripts (2002-2013, undated), boxes 6-7
Addendum of 2014/06/30, Animals (undated), box 7
Addendum of 2016/12/15, Correspondence, Photographs, and Other Material (circa 1950-2008), boxes 8-10
Addendum of 2017/10/19, Photographs and Other Material (circa 1900-2016), box 11
Addendum of 2018/02/23, Saints and Villains and Other Material (circa 1979-1999, undated), box 12
Addendum of 2019/06/19, Family Records (1964-2019 and undated), boxes 13-14
Addendum of 2020/08/28, Draft and Other Material (1951-1983 and undated), box 15
Addendum of 2022/05/18, Graduation Speech Script (2022)
No special access restriction applies.
Researchers may access born digital materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
a&m 3740, Giardina papers
15 December 2016
The Director of the History Center, John Cuthbert, wants to administer this collection, during the lifetime of the author, Denise Giardina, in such a way as to respect the rights of the author in terms of copyright.
This specific direction will not be part of the online administrative resource record.
Instead, the Director said to put into the resource record a direction for staff to consult a curator for reference questions concerning copyright and the Giardina collection.
This direction would go into an unpublished "conditions governing use" note in the resource record.
A copy of this note will be placed in the electronic curatorial files (with "3740" in the filename), and in the paper curatorial files (under Giardina, the donor).
Denise Giardina (1951- ) was born in Bluefield, West Virginia and spent her childhood in a McDowell County coal mining camp named Black Wolf. Giardina's father and other members of her family were employed by the coal company. The mine closed when Giardina was thirteen, and her family was forced to move to Charleston in search of work.
Giardina pursued higher education at West Virginia Wesleyan College, graduating 1973 with a Bachelor's degree in History. She continued on to do graduate work at Marshall University. Giardina considered ordination in the Episcopal Church and pursued a Masters in Divinity at the Virginia Theological Seminary of Alexandria, Virginia, which she received in 1979. Giardina decided to write rather than to be ordained, publishing her first historical novel, "Good King Harry", in 1984.
Giardina's next two novels, "Storming Heaven" (1987) and "The Unquiet Earth" (1992) draw on the author's childhood experiences growing up in a coal camp and on the history of the West Virginia coalfields. Giardina has published several other novels on historical subjects. She currently teaches at West Virginia State University and serves as an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church.
3.84 Linear Feet (7 document cases, 2.5 in. each; 5 document cases, 5 in. each; 1 notecard box, 3 in.; 1 flat storage box, 1.5 in.; 1 flat storage box, 1 in.)
0.22 Gigabytes (56 files, formats include .txt, .doc, .docx, and .po)
English
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Gift from Giardina, Denise, 2010/07/15
processing; 2010/07/15; mrr.
Collection will remain off-line until it is re-processed into flat storage boxes. Project completed.
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!!preservation; 2010/07/15; mrr.
Five 5 in. floppy disks are to have their contents downloaded; sent email to Frank Tovar regarding this on 7/14; he said he would try to find a way to do this (2010/07/15).
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preservation; 2010/11/18; mrr
conversion of five inch floppies
http://computer-convert.com/
from $35 to $100 per disk for conversion
$5 fee for checking disks to determine if and how conversion can be done
http://www.excaliburdatarecovery.com/data_conversion.htm
$200 fee for check disks to see if they are recoverable
$600-800 total
ellen lambert answered phone
said someone from recovery office would call back
http://www.datarecoverymasters.com/floppydiskcopy.php
if pc based, and disks are in still in good shape, $15 per disk
if full data recovery process is required, $275 per disk
http://www.floppydisk.com/transfer.htm
$30 to transfer data
we would convert ourselves
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preservation; 2010/11/18; mrr.
Systems set up a five in. drive, but it didn't work.
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preservation; 2010/11/18; mrr.
email to John Cuthbert
Mike B. said we need to contact the donor of the 5.25 in. floppies to find out what we can about the set-up she was using to create the files on them. I assume this would mean the (text) software she was using, and the platform (whether mac, apple, windows, dos, etc.).
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preservation; 2011/04/03; mrr.
Information on the disks has yet to be downloaded.
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!!preservation; 2011/07/25; mrr.
Acidic material needs to be copied for preservation.
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digital content; 2013/10/01; jcm
Draft versions 4, 5, and 6 of play "Robert and Ted" have been copied from an email to the T-drive; text of the email was also copied to T-drive. Copies of the draft plays were printed and added to the collection.
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archives and manuscripts; electronic records
English professor Anna Elfenbein informed curator Michael Ridderbusch about the unpublished material in box 3, folder 2, on 21 December 2018.
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository