See some of West Virginia’s lesser-known history through the people who helped make it.
THE FEMINIST ACTIVIST COLLECTION AT WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES is honoring the huge steps West Virginia activists have taken over the decades to counter injustice and inequality.
Housed at the West Virginia and Regional History Center in the university’s Downtown Library, the collection has the goal of telling a fuller version of our state’s history—one that thoroughly includes the roles of women and persons of color. “The collection is not just for young women and girls but for all people to see that women were interested in making change and worked together to do it,” says Lori Hostuttler, director of the WVRHC. “They tried to make a difference in their lives and other people’s lives.”
From bumper stickers and pins depicting activist slogans to correspondence and oral histories, the Feminist Activist Collection pulls together artifacts that encapsulate the efforts of West Viriginians in their movements towards equality. “There is a variety of different kinds of activism, and what we are interested in as an archive is getting a record of that.”
See the collection yourself from 5 to 8 p.m. on October 16 at the WVU Downtown Library at the exhibit event, “Women Making History: Showcasing the West Virginia Feminist Activist Collection.”
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM WV LIVING’S FALL 2023 ISSUE
Leave a Reply