About this collection:

➤ Elizabeth “Betty” June Wymer was born in Berlin, PA in 1940 to George and Florence Philson Dively. Betty June was a graduate of Berlin Brothers Valley High School and Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. During her professional career she served as a nurse at WVU Medical Center and Ohio Valley Medical Center. Betty June was an active local historian, antiques expert and collector, and a member of the WV Association of Museums, National Association of Warwick China, Wheeling Historical Society, Friends of Wheeling, Oglebay Institute, Barnstormers (Mail Pouch). Wymer was named a WV History Hero in 2010. For many years, she operated Wymer’s General Store, a mini museum that was located in Victorian North Wheeling, then the Wheeling Artisan Center and finally at the Museums of Oglebay Institute. Wymer died on June 26, 2019.

The Betty June Wymer Mail Pouch Tobacco Collection consists primarily of material and photographs relating to the Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company, specifically Mail Pouch Tobacco and the painted barns located across the country advertising the product. Included are several editions of the Barnstormer Newsletter and the 2005 Mail Pouch Barnstormers calendar featuring original photographs of Mail Pouch Barns. The collection also features clippings about barn painter Harley Warrick and photographs of him painting a Mail Pouch sign in the Wheeling Artisan Center in 1996.

➤ Interested in this material? Please use our "Ask an Archivist Form" or call 304-232-0244.

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