For any researcher interested in the social history of Appalachia AC.321: Smyth County Virginia Lifetime Collection provides an invaluable cross-sectional view of a southwest Virginia mountain community. From milltown life at Saltville to the streets of downtown Marion circa 1950 to family farm life in the early 1900s, materials within the collection cover the entire spectrum of vocations and cultures which informed and built lives within Smyth County. Researchers can follow the mountain ministry of Lutheran missionary Kenneth Killinger, view scenes of 1940s era student life at a junior college for women, take a tour of author Sherwood Anderson's Ripshin Manor, learn the daily "ins and outs" of a local feed mill from 1885 to 1914, peruse court records from the mid-1800s, or even jot down a recipe from the Marion Cookbook. The documents and photographs held within the Smyth County Virginia Lifetime Collection constitute an indispensible primary resource for researchers and display an altogether holistic and multi-layered history of an Appalachian county.
Picture of boy & donkey, lady, and ticket stub to the fair.
