Nov. 7: Hiding in Plain Sight: A Case Study of Early Accounts of Prehistoric Remains on Wheeling Island
David N. Fuerst, President of the West Virginia Archaeological Society, will discuss an article he co-wrote with the late Donald B. Ball, for the Fall 2019 WV Archeologist, entitled “Hiding in Plain Sight: A Case Study of Early Accounts of Prehistoric Remains on Wheeling Island.” It examines the utility of exploring the pages of long forgotten newspapers in a search for useful information about potentially significant archaeological sites which — for whatever reason — have been overlooked or ignored since they were initially reported. Specifically, this study focuses on a sizeable habitation area “hiding in plain sight” in a residential area on Wheeling island. This program will be our first in a November series dedicated to National Native American Heritage Month.
Nov. 14: End Lines & Other Lines: Poems by David Javersak and Tesla Joseph
Dr. David Javersak returns with more poetry, but this time accompanied by his granddaughter Tesla, who brings poems of her own, along with colorful illustrations for their joint project, “End Lines & Other Lines.”
Settling Ohio First Peoples and Beyond was Edited by Timothy G. Anderson and Brian Schoen. It begins with an overview of the first people who inhabited the region, who built civilizations that moved massive amounts of earth and left an archaeological record that drew the interest of subsequent settlers and continues to intrigue scholars. It highlights how, in the eighteenth century, Native Americans who migrated from the East and North interacted with Europeans to develop impressive trading networks and how they navigated complicated wars and sought to preserve national identities in the face of violent attempts to remove them from their lands. This program will be our second in a series dedicated to National Native American Heritage Month. Presenter: Timothy G. Anderson.
Nov. 28: Extinction and the Human: Four American Encounters
The Americas have been the site of two distinct waves of human migration, each associated with human-caused extinctions. The first occurred during the late Pleistocene era, some ten to thirty thousand years ago; the other began during the time of European settler-colonization and continues to this day. In Extinction and the Human Timothy Sweet ponders the realities of animal extinction and endangerment and the often divergent Native American and Euro-American narratives that surround them. He focuses especially on the force of human impact on megafauna—mammoths, whales, and the North American bison—beginning with the moments that these species’ extinction or endangerment began to generate significant print archives: transcriptions of traditional Indigenous oral narratives, historical and scientific accounts, and literary narratives by Indigenous American and Euro-American authors. This program will be our last in a series dedicated to National Native American Heritage Month.
Pittsburgh based KleZlectic features Clarinetist Janice Coppola, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Berman, Pianist Laura Riesberg Daniels, Bassist, trombonist Mark Perna, and Tuba player Roger Day. Klezmer music is an instrumental tradition that originated with the Ashkenazi Jews in Central and Eastern Europe. The term Klezmer comes from Yiddish, and is a shortened version of the Hebrew words for instrument (kley) and song (zemer).
Dec. 12: Memories of the Benwood Works of Wheeling Steel
The Benwood Mill, part of Wheeling Steel, could produce pipe faster than any other plant in the system. The employees of that facility were dedicated, intelligent workers in their craft. This book from authors Gary Rider and Roseanna Dakan Keller tells the stories of those employees who helped build the backbone of our American infrastructure, from its early beginnings to the closing of the facility in the early 1980’s. Share in the memories of those Benwood, West Virginia steel men and their families, who lived and breathed the jobs that kept that town alive and thriving.
Dec. 19: Re-Re-Imagining Christmas with the Mazure Brothers & Friends!
Composer, arranger, and guitarist Vance Mazure and his brother, multi-instrumentalist Luke, return to perform more renditions of classic Christmas songs and jazz standards, accompanied by their musical friends. The brothers’ affinity for re-imagining Christmas music can be traced back to their time at Wheeling Park High, performing in the Festival of Sound. Listen for the tunes we all know and love as well as creative and exploratory improvisation!
Jan. 2, 2024: A History Alive Visit from Mark Twain
Mark Twain was one of America’s great authors and humorists. As the young country rapidly grew into an international power in the second half of the 19th century, Twain shared his observations through writing and speeches. His best known novels are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but his work includes nonfiction, magazine articles, monographs, and commentaries that provide interesting insight into the American story. Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Clemens. He visited Wheeling on Jan. 10, 1872,speaking at Washington Hall. His favorite cigar was the Marsh Wheeling toby. Twain is portrayed by Doug Riley of Tunnelton. Sponsored by West Virginia Humanities Council — History Alive!
