Stewart Plein
A native of Abingdon, Virginia, Stewart Plein is the Curator of Rare Book and Printed Resources at West Virginia University. She received her BA from Emory & Henry College and her MLIS from the University of South Carolina. Stewart’s research and publishing interests include book history, bookbinding design and Appalachian Studies with a focus on Appalachian local color literature.
Awards:
Rare Book School at the University of Virginia: Certificate. Awarded for Proficiency in a Special Area: Librarianship, for the completion of a program of a designated series of courses. 2016
Emory & Henry College Alumni Board. Re-appointed 2015. Three Year Term.
Emory & Henry College Alumni Board. Appointed 2013. Three year term.
Rare Books and Manuscript Division, American Library Association, 2010 Preconference Attendance Scholarship Recipient.
Beta Phi Mu International Library and Information Studies Honor Society, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina. Inducted April 2010.
Wayne S. Yenawine Distinguished Student Award, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina, April 2010.
First prize, University of South Carolina Thomas Cooper Library Student Book Collecting Award, April 2009.
Exhibition, University of South Carolina Thomas Cooper Library Student Book Collecting Award, winning collection exhibited in the Thomas Cooper Library West Gallery, May-June 2009.
Phone: 304-293-0345
Address: West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University P.O. Box 6069 WVU 1549 University Ave. Morgantown, WV 26506-6069
Awards:
Rare Book School at the University of Virginia: Certificate. Awarded for Proficiency in a Special Area: Librarianship, for the completion of a program of a designated series of courses. 2016
Emory & Henry College Alumni Board. Re-appointed 2015. Three Year Term.
Emory & Henry College Alumni Board. Appointed 2013. Three year term.
Rare Books and Manuscript Division, American Library Association, 2010 Preconference Attendance Scholarship Recipient.
Beta Phi Mu International Library and Information Studies Honor Society, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina. Inducted April 2010.
Wayne S. Yenawine Distinguished Student Award, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina, April 2010.
First prize, University of South Carolina Thomas Cooper Library Student Book Collecting Award, April 2009.
Exhibition, University of South Carolina Thomas Cooper Library Student Book Collecting Award, winning collection exhibited in the Thomas Cooper Library West Gallery, May-June 2009.
Phone: 304-293-0345
Address: West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University P.O. Box 6069 WVU 1549 University Ave. Morgantown, WV 26506-6069
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Papers by Stewart Plein
conjunction with the local color literature they contained and helped to forge the stereotypes and misconceptions of
Appalachians and the Appalachian Region. This paper proposes to illustrate the important role that publishers’
bindings played in the construction of the image of Appalachia.
conjunction with the local color literature they contained and helped to forge the stereotypes and misconceptions of
Appalachians and the Appalachian Region. This paper proposes to illustrate the important role that publishers’
bindings played in the construction of the image of Appalachia.
Digitizing Appalachia’s Historic Newspapers
Appalachian Studies Association Conference 2015
For centuries, newspapers in Appalachia were a vitally important source for reporting local and state news. Their pages circulated through the many mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, carrying the first reports from the massacre at Matewan, through the Civil War and the fight for the 19th amendment to the US Constitution. Now the pages and papers coveted by the great-great-great-grandparents of today’s Appalachians can be read once again through the Library of Congress website and their newspaper portal: Chronicling America. Three universities, West Virginia University, The University of Tennessee, and the University of Kentucky, and the Library of Virginia, are digitizing Appalachia’s historic newspapers from the late eighteen century through the early years of the twentieth century as recipients of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.
This session will discuss various aspects of the digitization process and highlight actual newspaper stories now available on the Chronicling America website.
An article on this research can be found in the Journal of Appalachian Studies: Plein, Stewart. 2009. “Portraits of Appalachia: The Identification of Stereotype in Publishers’
Bookbindings, 1850-1915” [with illustrations; “local color” period]. Journal of Appalachian Studies.15, nos. 1-2 (Spring-Fall): 99-115.
Anne Spencer, Harlem Renaissance poet, civil rights activist, teacher, librarian, and noted gardener, lived a life of dualities. Born into the old state of Virginia she saw her formative years in the new state of West Virginia. She experienced her life as a young adult during the great industrialization of a boom town and her married life in a city with a traditional economy. While she sought solitude and respite from the world around her, she was also a proponent for civil rights activism. This paper discusses her experiences and the recollections of her life during an important period of change in African American history.
Anne Spencer, Harlem Renaissance poet, civil rights activist, teacher, librarian, and noted gardener, lived a life of dualities. Born into the old state of Virginia she saw her formative years in the new state of West Virginia. She experienced her life as a young adult during the great industrialization of a boom town and her married life in a city with a traditional economy. While she sought solitude and respite from the world around her, she was also a proponent for civil rights activism. This paper discusses her experiences and the recollections of her life during an important period of change in African American history.
Anne Spencer, Harlem Renaissance poet, civil rights activist, teacher, librarian, and noted gardener, lived a life of dualities. Born into the old state of Virginia she saw her formative years in the new state of West Virginia. She experienced her life as a young adult during the great industrialization of a boom town and her married life in a city with a traditional economy. While she sought solitude and respite from the world around her, she was also a proponent for civil rights activism. This paper discusses her experiences and the recollections of her life during an important period of change in African American history