NEWBERN PROJECT

JAKE CAUDILL & CASEY HEINLEIN

 NEWBERN VIRGINIA

• In 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.
• 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.
 EMORY & HENRY COLLEGE’S ROLE

• Tal Stanley has worked with the Appalachian Center for Civic Life, the Wilderness Road Regional Museum, and
Emory & Henry College to create a physical and online database of the artifacts and documents.
• Archiving:  
1. Court Records include slavery, murder trials, theft, assault, estate planning, etc...
2. Business Records include business contracts, company mergers, pay stubs, etc...
3. Family Records include multigenerational documents for families such as the Alexanders, Hances, and
Wysors.
4. Miscellaneous Documents include personal records, letters, notes, receipts, etc...
5. Photographs
6. Family Bibles, General Store Records, other miscellaneous items
STATS
• The summer of 2016 will
mark the fourth year of a
long-term collaborative
effort to accession and
analyze the Museum’s
holdings.
• 97 students have been
involved in the project
• Approximately 6,500
hours put into archiving by
students
• Almost 100,000
documents, records, and
summaries processed
 HOW TO ACCESSION A
DOCUMENT

1. Who, What, When, Where, and Why

2. WRRM-CR
3. Assign a number 96 – 147 (Sub Categories)
4. Assign a letter A – R or Z (Year)
5. WRRM – CR – 115 – J
PHOTOS IN THE NEWBERN PROJECT
OPENING OF NEW RIVER BRIDGE
HARD TO IDENTIFY PICTURE

• Iron furnace or threshing

• Car crash, powahattan arrow, byllesby dam,
FAMILY RECORDS

• Family Records include:

- Photos & Scrapbooks
- Letters
- Academic Notebooks & Attendance Records
- Other Miscellaneous Documents (Land Deeds, Advertisements, etc.)
 Bear

Cassell Jordan

Relationship
s

Bones Conduff

Moore
SLAVERY AND AFRICAN AMERICANS IN
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
• Approximately 550 slavery/African American documents have been discovered in the
archives so far.
• A little over 50 photographs relating to African American culture in Virginia.
• I scanned all of the slavery documents
• I also am producing a guide to these documents that will include an overview of the
Virginia Slave Codes and a bibliography on slavery and civil rights in Southwest Virginia
that will be a part of the Wilderness Road Regional Museum.
SLAVERY/AFRICAN AMERICAN
DISCOVERIES

• Slaves Summoned to Defend the Confederacy

An act calling for 5,000 “Slaves for Labor on the Public Defenses.”
• ​ Newbern Colored Brass Band
One of the first organizations, other than the Freedman's Bureau,
for blacks to join after Emancipation. ​
• Frank Harmon, on a Petition to Enslave Himself
December 3, 1855, Frank Harmon indicted for “remain[ing] within
this Commonwealth” after freedom.
On April 22, 1857, Frank Harmon petitioned to enslave himself.
 LESSONS LEARNED

• The History
• Breaking down Appalachian Stereotypes
• “The worst thing you can do, looking at history, is to judge people in historical settings on today’s
values and interpretations. You’ve got to put your mind back there, you gotta understand the
total picture, and what their philosophies about life and religion and everything else were.” – Clay
Landry (Wilderness Advisor for The Revenant)
• Place identity & practice of citizenship in a place
LESSONS LEARNED [CONT]

• Importance of History
• Citizenship
• With participation comes “We have…topics [within the documents archived in
the Newbern Project] that most people might not
responsibility consider when discussing history, but are super
• Newbern Project important to the social change that’s been
happening in the last hundred years in this country.”
– Tristan Nelson
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PRACTICE ACTIVE
CITIZENSHIP IN A PLACE?
• What does this look like?
• At Emory? In Appalachia?
• Newbern Project
• Your place?
SOURCES

• http://newbernprojectatemoryandhenry.weebly.com/