By Lori Briscoe, Associate Director of the Appalachian Center

In the 1960’s and early 70’s, as the "War on Poverty" focused the nation’s eye on the mountains, activists and scholars in Appalachia began pushing for college coursework incorporating regional topics and issues. For decades Appalachia had supplied the raw materials and resources that fed industrialization in many parts of the country, and had been the subject of countless articles, songs and novels. Faculty in regional colleges determined Appalachia was long overdue its day of genuine scholarship.

These unique geographic, cultural and historical circumstances shaped the educational mission of Berea College as expressed in the first Great Commitment "to provide an educational opportunity primarily for students from Appalachia, black and white, who have great promise and limited economic resources." That commitment continues today, in the College’s strategic plan initiative to "educate service-oriented leaders for Appalachia and beyond." The expanding Appalachian Center is the focal point for developing student and faculty leadership and service to the region.

Berea’s Appalachian Center was founded in 1970 by College president Willis D. Weatherford and former Council of the Southern Mountains Executive Director Loyal Jones, ‘54. Since the beginning, office manager Genevieve Reynolds has been the keystone of the Center’s activities.

"The Appalachian Center was intended to get beyond the institutional interest in Appalachia as a field of service and to get educators and students alike to see the inherent value in the heritage of the region," says retired director Loyal Jones. "Courses created a means through which students could learn about Appalachia and gain some sense of identity. Other programs were developed to expand the knowledge of the region for area school teachers and college faculty."

A number of Berea faculty were already incorporating regional topics into their courses. The college’s Appalachian commitment became more evident through the new Center’s work to increase the awareness and presence of Appalachia on campus and to create programs that would also reach out to the Appalachian community from whence 80% of the student body came.

"In the early phase of Appalachian studies, there was a great deal of emphasis on discovering the roots of Appalachia – the culture and history of the region," says Dr. Gordon McKinney, current Center director. "Now we’re expanding to include new emphases on regional economic development and community empowerment."

Since all the Center’s programs moved under one roof in the newly renovated Bruce building, collaboration between programs such as the Brushy Fork Institute, Appalachian Heritage magazine, the Appalachian Artifacts and Exhibits Studio, Special Programs and the new Center for Excellence in Learning through Service (CELTS) is sparking new initiatives integrating mountain-focused academic and service programs.

"All of us who work here are struck by the excitement that comes from having so

many different perspectives be part of every conversation," says McKinney. "I have an even greater appreciation for the skills and commitment of my colleagues."

The Appalachian Center continues its founding vision to execute Berea College’s regional commitment by serving as a resource for the campus and general public, raising awareness about the region by students, faculty, and staff, and fostering efforts to preserve our natural environment and transmit our mountain heritage.

Appalachian Center across campus (box – picture of Maxwell teaching –from Pfister)

Several new endeavors are being undertaken as part of the Center’s development.

• Entrepreneurship for the Public Good. Dr. James Maxwell is the chair of this new initiative and a second chair will be appointed in the near future to lead the Leadership for the Public Good initiative. Both projects will serve Berea College students from all majors who will participate in intensive summer seminars and internships, learning business, management and leadership skills and applying them in small businesses and non-profit organizations in Appalachia.

"This exciting program allows Berea College’s most exceptional students to explore, enlighten and enrich their vision, creativity, and determination," says Maxwell. "These students will experience the opportunity to continue their commitment to systematic social change, while increasing the value of their non-profit or for-profit organizations."

• Appalachian Fellowship. James Yount, the new National Endowment for the Humanities Appalachian fellowship professor, will be joining the Center in summer of 2001 to teach topics on traditional music and the construction of handmade traditional instruments.
• Appalshop Films Series. Stemming from the Center’s efforts to raise awareness on campus and in the community is a new film and discussion series held monthly to explore the stories, the voices and the concerns of Appalachia as presented by the award-winning documentary filmmakers at Appalshop, Inc. in Whitesburg, Kentucky.

Box: Preserving Berea’s heritage (Photo of Shannon – Photo by Ann Mary Quarandillo)

The Hutchins Library Archives and Special Collections provide a unique opportunity for students to use primary sources, materials and rare books that are not usually available to undergraduates. The Appalachian collection – the oldest and one of the largest research collections in the world on the mountains – stimulates and promotes scholarship on the region. It holds over 18,000 volumes on the Southern mountain region, hundreds of audio recordings, including music, oral histories, and folklife, and over 20,000 photographs of Appalachia and Berea.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), through the Appalachian Center, funds a full time College archivist, ensuring that there will always be someone at Berea to care for the Archives and to teach students about the collections. "It’s fitting that the NEH grant was awarded to Berea because of the College’s mission to preserve Appalachian culture and history," says current archivist Shannon Wilson. "This accords national recognition to the quality of our collections, and their historical and contemporary significance."

Appalachian Heritage, a quarterly magazine of Southern Appalachian life and culture, has been an outlet for the region’s best writing since 1973. In addition to the stories, poems and articles that have filled its pages, it has been a showcase for visual artists as well. For more information, or to subscribe to Appalachian Heritage, contact:

Appalachian Heritage

Attn: Genevieve Reynolds

Appalachian Center

Berea College CPO 2166

Berea, KY 40404

859-985-3140

Want to learn more?

Since 1970, the Appalachian Center and the Hutchins Library of Berea College annually present the W.D. Weatherford Award to the author of the work which in its year best illuminates the challenges, personalities, and unique qualities of the Appalachian South. Winners have included David H. Looff for Appalachia’s Children (1971), Gurney Norman for Kinfolks (1977), Denise Giardina for Storming Heaven (1987) and The Unquiet Earth (1992), Lee Smith for Fair and Tender Ladies (1988), and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for Colored People: A Memoir (1994).

Learn more about the mountains, and Berea’s Appalachian Center, including a complete list of Weatherford Award winners, and how to purchase Appalachian books and music, at our website: www.berea.edu/ApCenter.