Our Work
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It's an American place, an American road, and this is an American story!More than 150 years ago, settlers moved and passed through Southwest Virginia along the Great Road while venturing westward to pursue a new life. In the small town of Newbern, Virginia, the Wilderness Road Regional Museum and Emory & Henry College have partnered to analyze and collect artifacts to help piece together the history of Newbern, Pulaski County and the entire region.
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In 2011, a native of the nearby Dublin, Virginia, Dr. Tal Stanley contacted the Wilderness Road Regional Museum about organizing the holdings into an accessible archive to preserve the history of Newbern, Pulaski County, and the region. The purpose of the Newbern Project is to help others better understand the history of the place they call home and to help future researchers examine how the events of the past connect to today's society. Stanley, the Director of the Appalachian Center for Civic Life at Emory & Henry College, created a collaboration with the museum to organize and create a physical and online database of the artifacts. Under Stanley's guidance and leadership, 63 students have worked hands on with the project for more than 4,000 hours to archive 30,000 plus documents and 8,500 summaries.
The Archive
In order to analyze and organize such a large number of documents, the artifacts are divided into four main categories.
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Takeaways
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Despite many of the artifacts dating back to more than 150 years ago, the documents still have strong connections to society today. In the 1800's, individuals struggled with social issues such as abortion, racism, and domestic violence. Citizens spent more money than they earned which is evident through the thousands of debt collection documents contained within the archive. Most importantly, the archives teach us that by studying small communities the problems existing on a national scale are rooted to the most local levels of small town America. In the case of Newbern, Pulaski County, and the region, the Newbern Project teaches us about an American place, next to an American road, through an American story.
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