MATEWAN, WV (LOOTPRESS) – At the site of a historic 1920 battle in Matewan, WV – over a century after the fact – one can find the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum. Within the museum lies a growing archive depicting Appalachian history, life in the coalfields, and a repressed legacy of hardship lying just beneath the surface of modern-day perception.
The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum stands as the result of years of work by historians, archaeologists, storytellers and artists, descendants and mine workers – many of which have histories of their own pertaining to the coalfields region.
“The West Virginia Mine Wars are important in West Virginia history, but it’s also American History,” says Bobby Starnes, a coal-miner’s daughter, Harvard educated professor of Appalachian Studies, and museum board member.
Featured museum exhibits offering archival photos and videos, first-person accounts, rare artifacts and replicas, and detailed timelines provide an access point to a forgotten time in what has become the largest exhibition of Mine Wars history anywhere in the United States.
“The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum is an experience you will never forget,” says Executive Director Kenzie New-Walker. “Folks can walk in, and they get to learn about life in the coal camps from the perspective of miners and their families.”
The museum’s exhibits detail, among other things, the extensive conflict which occurred between 1900 and 1920 with regard to workers’ rights and control being exerted over Appalachian regions during this time. From lifelong residents to immigrant workers, forces were brought together in their shared struggle to rewrite history and set into motion events which would erect modern-day America as a dominant economic force in the world arena.
Such significant events as the Paint Creek & Cabin Creek Strikes (1911-1912) and the Battle of Blair Mountain (1921) – the largest armed insurrection in U.S. history outside the Civil War – are detailed and presented for analysis within the walls of the WV Mine Wars Museum, which reasserts the impact of countless moments and people which previously may have been assumed lost to time altogether.
“While the limelight of history may focus on people like J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie, and what these captains of industry did to build America, it is far past time that we focus on names like Sid Hatfield and Mother Jones and look at their very significant contributions to the fabric of our nation’s history,” reads an excerpt from the museum website.
Along with the vast array of physical archives and on-site information offered, the Mine Wars Museum also features specially curated online exhibits which bring the history directly to the home of the observer.
The museum operates seasonally from March to November each year, and can be found in downtown Matewan, on the first floor of the Cecil E. Roberts building (formerly the Bank of Matewan) at 401 Mate Street, Matewan, WV 25678.
The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum offers general admission rates as well private tours. More information on the museum itself, pricing & availability, and how to get involved can be found by calling (304) 691-0014 or by visiting the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum website.
Learn more about how to experience the past and present of Southern West Virginia here.
