A nineteenth-century Zuni jar. A series of Preservation and Access grants from the NEH has helped Davis & Elkins College protect its historically-significant collections. Photo courtesy of Davis & Elkins College, Stirrup Gallery, Darby Collection.
The Special Collections and Archives at Davis and Elkins College hold many of the school’s treasures. These include papers relating to its history and establishment as a National Historic Landmark; audiovisual materials documenting Appalachian music and dance; the manuscripts of Pearl S. Buck, the Nobel Prize-winning author; and the papers of Senators Henry Davis and Stephen Elkins. In addition, the Stirrup Gallery holds 10,000 items representing 3,500 years of material culture: firearms; Native American pottery, baskets, beads, and weapons; and spinning wheels, looms, and furniture used by the first European settlers in the Americas. A series of Preservation and Access grants from the NEH has helped the college protect these historically-significant collections.
“It’s one thing for us to say ‘we think these things are valuable.’ It’s another to have a specialist come in and say, ‘These are one-of-a-kind items that you are about to lose.’”
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A four-barrel percussion-holster pistol, circa 1850. Photo courtesy of Davis & Elkins College, Stirrup Gallery, Darby Collection.
Library staff are anxious to save the valuable artifacts and create an archive that students can use; however, the collections are rapidly deteriorating, having been stored in drafty buildings not originally designed for housing delicate historical items. NEH funding preserved a great deal of the audiovisual collection as well as allowed the library to bring a conservator to campus who was able to assess the collections and recommend priorities. As Mary Jo DeJoice, Assistant Director of Booth Library, stated, “It’s one thing for us to say ‘we think these things are valuable.’ It’s another to have a specialist come in and say, ‘These are one-of-a-kind items that you are about to lose.’”
A display in the Ice Age Mammal Fossil Room. Photo courtesy of Davis & Elkins College, Stirrup Gallery, Reckling Collection.
The conservator’s recommendation helped the library realize that the collections required urgent care and it provided the foundation they needed to create a strategic plan and apply for further grants, including an NEH grant that purchased environmental monitoring equipment and storage supplies. According to DeJoice, “We wouldn’t have gotten this far without the input from the assessment. It was helpful on so many levels. We were encouraged to hear we were on the right track; it presented some new options that we didn’t even know existed; and it really helped us present the context and severity of the situation to the senior administration. We have been able to move forward with some changes.”
