Sunday Showcase
Save Our Stories: Appalshop’s Archival Emergency

Sunday, June 4, 12:30 pm

FREE

On July 28, 2022, Letcher County, Kentucky, and surrounding areas experienced an unprecedented 1,000-year flood that wreaked havoc on the region. This included extensive damage to the Appalshop Archive, where flood waters reached nearly 7 feet.

Since its founding in 1969, Appalshop has been documenting and preserving Appalachian stories on all manner of media, from celluloid film to digital tape. Beginning in 2019, Speed Cinema celebrated the organization’s 50^th anniversary with a year-long monthly program of their films.

Appalshop’s state-of-the-art, climate-controlled vault held thousands of hours of films, videos, audio recordings, photographs, and print materials that span almost a century of history in Appalachia. These materials include interviews with and footage of legendary Appalachian musicians, artists, and authors such as Ralph Stanley, Hazel Dickens, chairmaker Chester Cornett, Harriet Simpson Arnow, and scholar Helen Matthews Lewis. The collections also document mountain residents from all walks of life, from coal miners to lawyers, politicians to local sheriffs, granny midwives to teen-aged basketball players.

The flood waters of July 2022 affected nearly 80% of the 24,000 items held in Appalshop Archive’s vault, either through direct contact with water or exposure to heat and humidity. But with the help of a team of volunteer archivists from across the state, materials were quickly moved out of the building and relocated.  Counted among the many volunteers were staff members from the Speed Museum, Filson Historical Society and University of Louisville. Since then, Appalshop Archive has enlisted conservators specializing in damaged media and a national advisory group of archivists and educators have volunteered their time and expertise to help develop a long-term plan to save this crucial collection.

Appalshop’s Archive Director Caroline Rubens will highlight the importance of this invaluable archive and show samples from Appalshop Archive’s collections. She will describe the cleanup and recovery, including logistical, technical, and financial challenges to rescuing flood-damaged media. In addition, Leo Shannon will discuss the audio archive and perform with Keilan Aplin. Find out ways that you can support this incredible cultural treasure.  Running time: 60 minutes.