Sept. 11, 2015
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Goldenseal magazine editor Stan Bumgardner will present the talk “West Virginia’s Food Heritage” in the Archives and History Library at the Culture Center, State Capitol Complex in Charleston, on Thursday, Sept. 17. The program begins at 6 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Bumgardner will discuss the history of food in West Virginia and examine how certain foods and beverages hold a special place in Appalachian culture. This heritage has evolved for centuries – from early German and Scots-Irish pioneers to later immigrants of the early 19th and 20th centuries. He also will explore the present-day “local foods” movement. Bumgardner will demonstrate how some food and beverage traditions vary from one part of the state to another, but still bind us together.
Bumgardner has been a professional historian for more than 25 years. He has worked at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, for the West Virginia History Film Project, at West Virginia Archives and History and as acting director of the West Virginia State Museum. He was the creative director for the West Virginia State Museum renovation project, developed exhibits for the South Charleston Museum Foundation and the National Coal Heritage Area and created a traveling exhibit for the documentary The Great Textbook War.
As a freelance writer, Bumgardner wrote The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia: Children–Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, 1996) and Charleston (Arcadia Publishing, 2006). He also has written articles for American History and Wonderful West Virginia and developed a driving guide for historic sites in southern West Virginia. Bumgardner became editor of Goldenseal magazine and state folklife director last month.
Because of ongoing construction in the visitor’s parking area, participants may park behind the Culture Center after 5 p.m. on Sept. 17 and enter the building at the back loading dock area.
For additional information about the Archives and History lecture series, contact the Archives and History Library at (304) 558-0230.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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