Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology, Records regarding Blair Mountain
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3857
Records of the Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology (IHTIA) pertaining to its work on Blair Mountain, Logan County, WV, the site of the Battle of Blair Mountain. Fought in 1921, this battle was a culmination of the largest civil uprising since the Civil War, featuring the confrontation of mine workers with state police and volunteer militia. The collection includes correspondence, typescripts, maps, clippings, photographs, and artifacts that pertain to the Blair Mountain reconnaissance survey, cultural resource survey and recording project, and symposium. Highlights include typescript copies of a report on the Blair Mountain Cultural Resource Survey and Recording Project, typescript copies of documentation related to Historic American Engineering Records project HAER WV-50, shell casings found on Blair Mountain that might date to the battle, and core samples of Blair Mountain trees. A listing of artifacts can be found in box 5, folder 21; artifacts are in box 6. Tree core samples are in box 7. For more information on the IHTIA and their Blair Mountain projects, please see the Historical Note.
English
No special access restriction applies.
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.
The Institute for the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology (IHTIA), founded in 1989, was part of West Virginia University's Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. IHTIA worked in conjunction with the National Park Service's Historic American Engineering Records (HAER) to document, analyze, and preserve America's industrial heritage while providing unique educational opportunities.
The Blair Mountain Cultural Resource Survey and Recording Project was a project undertaken in 1991 by the IHTIA in cooperation with the West Virginia Coal Association, United Mine Workers of America, and the West Virginia Humanities Council. Preceded by a reconnaissance survey, the Cultural Resource Survey was phase I of the project, and the Cultural Resource Recording was phase II. Phase III would have been a Battle of Blair Mountain multiple property National Register of Historic Places nomination, but the permission of principal landowners was not obtained.
For further reading on this project, please see The Battle of Blair Mountain (West Virginia): Cultural Resource Survey & Recording Project. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University, 1992. This title is available at the West Virginia & Regional History Center.
The Battle of Blair Mountain, also known as the Miners' March or the Red Neck War, was part of the West Virginia Mine Wars. Precipitated by the opposing interests of the southern West Virginia coal companies and those trying to unionize the southern West Virginia coal miners, the battle was one of the largest civil uprisings in U.S. history and the largest armed rebellion since the Civil War. From August 25 to September 2, 1921, in Logan County, West Virginia, roughly 10,000 armed coal miners confronted roughly 3,000 state policemen, volunteer militiamen, and strikebreakers at Blair Mountain. The battle resulted in several deaths and ended after the United States Army intervened by Presidential order.
3.6 Linear Feet (3 ft. 7 in. (5 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 record carton, 15 in.); (1 flat storage box, 3 in.))
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/
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository