From the Vault: "Beneath the Poppies & Crosses: What Archaeology Reveals about the First World War" with Hank Lutton
Originally presented May 30, 2017.

2017 marked the centenary of the United States’ entry into the First World War. To observe the anniversary, on May 30, 2017Hank D. Lutton — a historian, scholar, and Registered Professional Archaeologist specializing in historical archaeology — joined us, examining the recent contributions that archaeology has made to better understanding “the war to end all wars.” By highlighting battlefield excavations, personal artifacts, and the forensic analysis of the fallen from unmarked graves, his lecture revealed recent discoveries that are transforming our knowledge of how individual combatants lived and died a century ago. Hank is currently a curator at the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex in Moundsville, West Virginia.

From the Vault: Auschwitz Survivor Judge Thomas Buergenthal — "A Lucky Child"
Originally presented March 3, 2011.

Judge Thomas Buergenthal discussed his memoir, A Lucky Child, in which he recounts his experiences as one of the youngest survivors of the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen. Judge Buergenthal served on the International Court of Justice from 2000 until 2010. Between 1979 and 1991, he was a judge and president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In the 1990s, he was a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the UN Truth Commission for E l Salvador. After graduating from Bethany College and the New York University Law School, he received LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees from the Harvard Law School. Professor Buergenthal was the Dean of the Washington College of Law at the American University from 1980 to 1985 and is currently Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University Law School. 

From the Vault: "Wheeling's Cemeteries" with Bekah Karelis
Originally presented October 24, 2017.

There’s not much about Wheeling that Rebekah Karelis, former historian for Wheeling Heritage, doesn’t know, but if there’s one subject she knows better than most, its cemeteries. Karelis, who spearheaded the preservation efforts at Mount Wood Cemetery, took us on a timely tour of Wheeling's "Silent Cities of the Dead."

Tuesday | March 16, 2021
From the Vault: From An Górta Mor to Riverdance: The Irish Potato Famine in History & Memory
Originally presented March 17, 2015.

Spoken-word artist Chuck Lanigan goes beyond the green beer and Riverdance depiction of Irish ‘troubles’ to explore the most traumatic event of Irish culture and history. The Irish Potato Famine (An Górta Mor — or “Great Hunger”) of 1845-1850 compares to the Soviet famine in the Ukraine and more recent human tragedies in terms of impact. Was the potato famine genocide, or just an unfortunate convergence of historical and agricultural factors? What was the culpability of the British government or of Irish culture itself? Through music, images and first-hand accounts by figures such as Charles Trevelyan, the production will challenge popular perception about an event that killed one million Irish and sent many more fleeing to Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

Tuesday | March 9, 2021
From the Vault: Rose "Gaspipe Rosie" Gacioch with Barbara Gregorich
Originally presented September 16, 2020.

For Women's History Month, we're spotlighting some Wheeling women. First up, Wheeling’s own professional female baseball player, Rose "Gaspipe Rosie" Gacioch. Back in 2011, Barbara Gregorich, author of Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball, shared Rosie's story. Rose Gacioch grew up in South Wheeling, two blocks from Pulaski Field, where she first tried out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She went on to become one of the league’s most dominant players and one of the inspirations for the film, "A League of Their Own," starring Tom Hanks and Rosie O’Donnell. 

Tuesday | February, 2021
From the Vault: First Annual Ann Thomas Memorial Lecture with Dr. Joseph William Trotter, Jr.
Originally presented Febrary 18, 2020.

Our first speaker in the Ann Thomas Memorial Lecture series was Dr. Joe Trotter of Carnegie Mellon, who talked about his book, Workers on Arrival: Black Labor in the Making of America. which covers the last four hundred years since Africans were first brought to Virginia in 1619, tracing black workers’ complicated journey from the transatlantic slave trade through the American Century to the demise of the industrial order in the 21st century.  We bring you this vault video on the anniversary of the second anniversary of the Ann Thomas Memorial Lecture. We were honored to have the great award-winning author Crystal Wilkinson as our second speaker in this series via livestream, Feb. 23, 2021.

Tuesday | January 19, 2021
From the Vault: "My Journey" with former American Postal Workers Union President Bill Burrus
Originally presented Tuesday, February 15, 2015.

William Burrus was born in Wheeling and completed his schooling at Lincoln High School, graduating in the last class segregated by race in 1954. After serving in the military for 3 years William Burrus achieved employment with the United States Postal Service and, in 1980, was elected to the 2nd ranking position Executive Vice President, serving for 21 years when he was elected as International President. He is the only African American elected by the membership of an international union as President and served for 9 years when he retired after a 53 year career. From the humble beginnings in Wheeling William Burrus succeeded in being elected to the presidency of the 10th largest union in the country with members in every city in America. As union president he was elected as Vice President AFL CIO and Vice President UNI, the world affiliation of unions. Mr. Burrus returned to his hometown of Wheeling, WV, back in 2015, to discuss his books, My Journey: A Postal & Unique American Experience and Black History We Remember.

Tuesday | January 12, 2021
From the Vault: "Science and Government" with Dr. Stanley Barkin
Originally presented Tuesday, August 4, 2014.

To celebrate the launch of our new People's University series this week, Physical Science: The Joy of Discovery, we are looking back to when Dr. Stanley Barkin, formerly the associate director of one of the units of the National Research Council (NRC), visited us to discuss the history and role of both the NRC and the National Academies of Science (NAS). These quasi-governmental organizations were initially chartered by Abraham Lincoln and often collectively called the “U.S. Supreme Court of Science.” Back in 2014, the NRC had been advising the government on such critical topics as stem cell research, climate change, and objects on a collision course with earth.

Tuesday | January 5, 2021
From the Vault: "The War Came by Train: The B. & O. Railroad During the Civil War" with Dan Toomey
Originally presented Tuesday, July 29, 2015.

To accompany this week's LWB Livestream, Railroads in Civil War Strategy with General Ulysses S. Grant, this week we are revisiting a program back from 2015. Dan Toomey, author of The War Came by Train: The B. & O. Railroad During the Civil War, visited and explored the concept that the “first front” of the war was neither a political nor a geographical boundary, but the main line of the B.&O. Beginning with the B & O's reaction to John Brown's Raid in 1859 and ending with the demobilization of the Union Army in 1865, the overall strategy and political aims of the time period are blended with the battles and daily operational challenges of a Civil War Railroad.

Tuesday | December 29, 2020
From the Vault: "The Heroic Age: Tales of Wheeling’s Frontier Era"
Originally presented Tuesday, January 17, 2012.

Wheeling was established as a town on December 25, 1795, and incorporated as a town on January 16, 1806. To celebrate our City's early foundations, we're taking you back to Wheeling's frontier days with this week's vault video. Back in 2012, Joe Roxby visited us at Lunch With Books to discuss the 2011 expanded edition of "The Heroic Age: More Tales of Wheeling’s Frontier Era." Co-authored by William Hintzen and illustrated by artist Anne Foreman, the new edition of the book, originally published in 2000, contains an appendix of primary source materials on Fort Henry and Lewis Wetzel, plus in-depth analysis of the Foreman massacre, the sieges of 1777 and 1782, and the actual location of Fort Henry.

Tuesday | December 22, 2020 - Merry Christmas, everyone! 
From the Vault: Lunch With "Brooks" - Christmas with Yodeling Dick Brooks
Originally presented Tuesday, December 18, 2018.

This week, we bring you a Lunch With Books Christmas classic. Our very dear friend, the legendary Yodeling Dick Brooks (Richard Morriale), took the Lunch With Books stage back in December of 2018, performing familiar Christmas tunes along with an amazing array of original compositions. Fun Fact: Yodeling Dick has been our volunteer videographer since 2006 and recorded over 800 programs for the Library! Did you know Yodeling Dick Brooks also wrote the Lunch With Books theme song? Watch to the end of the video to have a listen or watch the LWB Theme Song video below. 

Tuesday | December 15, 2020
From the Vault: "The 13th Amendment in Wheeling" with Dr. Connie Rice
Originally presented Tuesday, February 1, 2011.

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States, was ratified on December 6, 1865. We bring you this week's Lunch With Books From the Vault to commemorate the fact that for the last 155 years, our nation has provided that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." On February 1, 2011, Dr. Connie Rice, lecturer at WVU and member of the West Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, joined us to discuss the impact of the ratification of the 13th Amendment in Wheeling and in the state.

Tuesday | December 8, 2020
From the Vault: "Memories of Wheeling Downs" with Hugh Stobbs.
Originally presented Tuesday, July 26, 2011.

This week's Lunch With Books vault video is dedicated to our dear friend, Hugh Nevin Stobbs Jr., who passed away peacefully Tuesday, December 8, 2020.

Hugh Stobbs, who worked for many years at Wheeling Downs, discussed his memories of the track, the horses, the gamblers, notorious Wheeling mobster Bill Lias, and all of the things that made Wheeling Downs the interesting place it was in its heyday. 

Using memorabilia from his own extensive collection, Stobbs worked with the Library in 2017 to create a Wheeling Downs display in an empty downtown store window at 1310 Market Street. He later donated much of his Wheeling Downs collection to the Library Archives. Items from this collection can be seen on the Library's Flickr page. Photos of the display, which is still up at 1310 Market Street, can be viewed on ArchivingWheeling.org.

Tuesday | December 1, 2020
From the Vault: "Dialects in West Virginia: Fact and Fiction and How to Learn from Both" with WVU Professor Dr. Kirk Hazen
Originally presented Tuesday, May 27, 2008.

If you watched this Tuesday's Lunch With Books Livestream, Appalachian Englishes with West Virginia University English professor Dr. Kirk Hazen, and are interested in learning more about West Virginia and Appalachian dialects, then we have a great surprise for you! Dr. Hazen first spoke at Lunch With Books twelve years ago, leading an interactive program on the myths and realities of West Virginia dialects, presenting findings from research on dialects in West Virginia, and answering a wide range of questions about English in Appalachia. Please enjoy this week's LWB "From the Vault" video, “Dialects in West Virginia: Fact and Fiction and How to Learn from Both.” 

Tuesday | November 24, 2020
From the Vault: "Place of the Skull: The Untold Story of Vengeance, Blood, & the British Flag at Wheeling" with author Alan Fitzpatrick
Originally presented Tuesday, January 6, 2010.

Area author Alan Fitzpatrick talked about the research he conducted for his third book, “Place of the Skull: The Untold Story of Vengeance, Blood and the British Flag at Wheeling,” exploring the mysterious origins of the city’s name, an English corruption of the Delaware word, Weel-lunk, literally "Place of the Skull" in the Delaware language.  A couple of years after Ebenezer Zane and his brothers arrived to the area in 1769, Zane talked to elderly Delaware Indians who said a white man had been killed and his head placed on a post near the mouth of the creek. Placing a head on a post was a symbolic act for Indians, who believed that evil spirits inhabit places and people. As a result of this act, “the spirit of the dead person cannot move into the afterlife.” 

Tuesday | November 17, 2020
From the Vault: "Eastern Woodland Indians" with presenter Travis Henline
Originally presented Tuesday, October 5, 2010.

November is Native American Heritage Month, so for this week's Lunch With Books vault video, we're revisiting Travis Henline's 2010 talk that provided an overview of the histories and cultures of Eastern Woodland American Indian peoples with particular emphasis on the Ohio Valley and present-day West Virginia.

Tuesday | November 3, 2020
From the Vault: 2016 Upper Ohio Valley Festival of Books - "Rust Belt Boy" with author Paul Hertneky
Originally presented Tuesday, October 26, 2016.

The 2020 Upper Ohio Valley Festival of Books is all about memoirs, and we've been featuring memoirists in our Vault Videos leading up this Saturday's Nov. 7th livestream event. In this week's Vault video, we're traveling back to the 2016 UOVFB to revisit a guest appearance by Pittsburgh-born Paul Hertneky, whose memoir, "Rust Belt Boy: Stories of an American Childhood," portrays a moment in time: the last gasp of the industrial north where European immigrants had raised families and built communities and cities, but saw the end of their way of life looming on the horizon.

Tuesday | October 27, 2020
From the Vault: Cities of the Dead - Wheeling's Cemeteries
Originally presented Tuesday, October 26, 2010.

To get us in the Halloween spirit back in 2010, Jeanne Finstein and Judi Hendrickson presented "Cities of the Dead: The Final Resting Places of Wheeling’s Famous & Infamous." The program offered information about numerous people interred in various Wheeling Cemeteries, including Greenwood, Mt. Calvary, Mt. Wood, and Stone Church (among others) and included images of the gravesites and people.

Tuesday | October 13, 2020
From the Vault: Memoir: Appalachia North with author Matthew Ferrence
Originally presented Monday, October 31, 2016.

The 2020 Upper Ohio Valley Festival of Books is all about memoirs, so we thought we'd feature a couple of memoirists in our Vault Videos leading up to the Nov. 7th livestream event. This week, we're featuring Matthew Ferrence's Appalachia North. Ferrence’s sense of geographic ambiguity is compounded when he learns that his birthplace in western Pennsylvania is technically not a mountain but, instead, a dissected plateau shaped by the slow, deep cuts of erosion. That discovery is followed by the diagnosis of a brain tumor, setting Ferrence on a journey that is part memoir, part exploration of geology and place. Appalachia North is an investigation of how the labels of Appalachia have been drawn and written, and also a reckoning with how a body always in recovery can, like a region viewed always as a site of extraction, find new territories of growth.

Tuesday | October 13, 2020
From the Vault: Memoir: The Climb from Salt Lick with author Nancy Abrams
Originally presented Tuesday, August 7, 2018.

The 2020 Upper Ohio Valley Festival of Books is all about memoirs, so we thought we'd feature a couple of memoirists in our Vault Videos leading up to the Nov. 7th livestream event. First up, The Climb from Salt Lick. In the mid-1970s, Nancy L. Abrams, a young photojournalist from the Midwest, plunged into life as a small-town reporter in West Virginia. Her memoir is the remarkable story of an outsider coming into adulthood in a unique place using words and pictures to tell the rich stories of those around her. Abrams shared how she learned how to survive in Appalachia—how to heat with coal and wood, how to chop kindling, plant a garden, and preserve produce. 

Tuesday | September 29, 2020
From the Vault: Constitution Day 2007 - Rebecca Harding Davis: Her Life and Legacy presented by Peg Brennan and Rebekah Karelis.
Originally presented Tuesday, November 27, 2018.

Rebecca Harding Davis is best known for her gritty short story “Life in the Iron-Mills,” set in her native Wheeling, West Virginia. Far less is known of her later career among elite social circles in Philadelphia, New York, and Europe, or her relationships with American presidents and leading international figures in the worlds of literature and the stage. Wheeling historians Margaret Brennan and Rebekah Karelis shared the extraordinary life and examined Rebecca’s role as the leading member of the Davis family, a unique and nationally recognized family of writers that shaped the changing culture of later nineteenth-century literature and journalism. We bring you this vault video on the 110th anniversary of Davis's death, September 29, 1910, to celebrate the life and literature of the pioneer of literary realism in American literature.

Tuesday | September 22, 2020
From the Vault: Constitution Day 2007 - "Supreme Conflict" Book Review with Dr. Joe Laker
Originally presented Tuesday, September 18, 2007.

We are bringing you this LWB from the vault this week in tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg (March 15, 1933-September 18, 2020), the second female U.S. Supreme Court Justice. On Tuesday, September 18th, 2007, the Ohio County Public Library celebrated Constitution Day with Dr. Joe Laker, then Professor of History at Wheeling Jesuit University. Dr. Laker reviewed Jan Crawford Greenburg's 2007 book, Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle to Control the United States Supreme Court. The book is written for everyday readers, and includes an insider’s look at the personalities and political leanings of the justices who have been appointed to the nation’s highest Court in recent decades.

Friday | September 11, 2020
From the Vault: "September 11th Day of Remembrance" 
Originally presented Tuesday, September 11, 2018.

On September 11th, 2001, the course of American history changed. On the 17th anniversary of that traumatic day, we invited the community to join us as we paused to remember the lives of those lost and injured and to honor those who rose in service. Leading the remembrance were Rabbi Joshua Lief of Temple Shalom, West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman, poet and the Rev. Bonnie Thurston, and Wheeling Symphony Orchestra principal cellist, Elisa Kohanski, for a program of prayer, poetry, music, and meditations upon peace and unity on this solemn day of remembrance.

Tuesday | September 8, 2020
From the Vault: REUTHER-POLLACK LABOR HERITAGE WEEK: Hazel Dickens—A tribute to the Labor Activist & Song Writer with Professor Richard Straw and singer Karen Collins. Originally presented Tuesday, August 27, 2019.

As part of the 2019 Reuther-Pollack Labor Heritage Week, Lunch With Books, in partnership with the WALS Foundation and the Reuther-Wheeling Labor History Archive, celebrated the life and music of the legendary West Virginia singer, songwriter, and union activist, Hazel Dickens. Smithsonian Folkways Magazine called Dickens “one of the most important bluegrass singers of the last fifty years...” The program, featuring Professor Richard Straw and singer Karen Collins, focused on Hazel's labor activism and related songs.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND SPECIAL  - Friday | September 4, 2020
From the Vault: "The Unbroken Circle" - Songs from the Coalfields with Tom Breiding. Originally presented Tuesday, September 4, 2012.

In honor of Labor Day, Wheeling native and teaching artist Tom Breiding delivered unique musical stories of life in American towns. This entertaining program pays homage to the laborers of our region who made great sacrifices to build our country. From the coalfields of West Virginia to Pittsburgh's steel mills, Tom shared his original compositions and traditional folk tales, featuring guitar, banjo, and harmonica. Tom taught our audience about early life in the coalfields, the struggles of the labor force to organize, and specific events surrounding the mine wars of 1921. He also delivered songs depicting generations of workers in the steel, coal, and glass industries of Pittsburgh and shared a small traveling museum with early mining artifacts, gear, scrip, etc. 

Thursday | September 3, 2020
From the Vault: "Crossroads of America: the 1840 Democratic Whig Convention in Wheeling" with CJ Kaiser. Originally presented Tuesday, January 28, 2020.

C.J. Kaiser will discuss a little-known event that took place in Wheeling, Va., 180 years ago today, September 3, 1840. The talk was inspired by an 1840 broadside promoting Wheeling as host for a regional Whig Party political rally advocating the election of William Henry Harrison as president and John Tyler as vice president of the United States. Their slogan was “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” The talk explores Henry Clay’s connection to Wheeling and the prominent Wheeling men involved in organizing the Whig convention who would be divided by the familiar national issues that led to the Civil War.

Tuesday | August 25, 2020
From the Vault: REUTHER-POLLACK LABOR HERITAGE WEEK: Never Justice, Never Peace with Ginny Savage Ayers. Originally presented Tuesday, August 30, 2018.

Ginny Savage Ayers offered a narrative history of the Paint Creek–Cabin Creek Strike of 1912–13 that weaves together threads about organizer Mother Jones, the United Mine Workers union, politicians, coal companies, and Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency guards with the experiences of everyday men and women.

Tuesday | August 18, 2020
From the Vault: "West Virginia & the 19th Amendment - 100 years" with Dr. Katherine Antolini. Originally presented Tuesday, March 3, 2020.

March is Women’s History Month and on March 3, 2020, Dr. Katharine Antolini, professor of history and gender studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College, visited to help us observe the 100th anniversary of Congress passing the 19th Amendment recognizing, at long last, the right of women to vote. The amendment was ratified by the state of West Virginia on March 10, 1920, and ratified nationally - 100 years ago today - August 18, 2020. Professor Antolini examined the arguments against women’s suffrage that defeated the state referendum in 1916 and almost prevented its passage in West Virginia four years later.

Tuesday | August 4, 2020
From the Vault: "Their Houses" with author Meredith Sue Willis. Originally presented Tuesday, October 15, 2019.

By request, this week we bring you author Meredith Sue Willis, who joined us at Lunch With Books to discuss her new book, "Their Houses" (West Virginia University Press, 2018).

Tuesday | August 11, 2020
From the Vault: "The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki: August 1945" with author Dr. Dennis Wainstock. Originally presented Tuesday, July 21, 2009.

The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. As a recognition of the 75 years since the bombing, we offer this Lunch With Books from the vault in which both an American and a Japanese view of the political, diplomatic, and military currents that influenced Japan's attempts to surrender and the United States's decision to drop the atomic bombs were discussed.

Tuesday | July 30, 2020
From the Vault: "The USS Indianapolis - A Survivor's Story" with Wheeling's own Paul McGinnis. Originally presented on September 25th, 2007

Lunch With Books was very honored to host Wheeling resident and distinguished WWII veteran Paul McGinnis back in 2007. A large audience assembled to hear a harrowing and touching story of survival.

Mr. McGinnis also shared his survival story in the form of an oral history. His interview, conducted by Sean Duffy and Jeff Rutherford at the Ohio County Public Library, April 26. 2011, is now a part of the Wheeling Memory Project.

Tuesday | July 14, 2020
From the Vault: "A History of Ye Olde Alpha" with presenter Ron Miller. Originally presented on October 14, 2008.

Ron Miller presented a program on the Ye Olde Alpha restaurant and bar at LWB back in 2008. Mr. Miller, whose family owned The Alpha for over 70 years, shared the storied history of the legendary Wheeling establishment with LWB attendees.

Tuesday | July 7, 2020
From the Vault: Street Car Days in Wheeling with Jack Syphers. Originally presented on August 11, 2009.

Jack Syphers (August 9, 1920 - April 6, 2015), one of Wheeling’s last living trolley car men (see https://bit.ly/2O6uzU5), visited us at Lunch With Books on Tuesday, August 11, 2009, to share his memories of a lost era: Street Car Days in Wheeling.

Tuesday | June 30, 2020
From the Vault: People's University: American History 1 - Class 3, "The American Revolution" with Dr. Richard Owens. Originally presented on August 28, 2012.

This week, in time for July 4, Independence Day, we offer a program from the People's U video vault. Dr. Richard Owens, Professor of History, West Liberty University, covered the "American Revolution" for the People's University series, American History 1, which surveyed the important events and people of the pre-colonial, colonial, and Founding periods.

Tuesday | June 23, 2020
From the Vault: Mozart Park, originally presented by Ryan Stanton, October 11, 2011.

Henry Schmulbach researcher Ryan Stanton presented a history of Mozart Park, including Schmulbach’s incline and the casino.

Tuesday | June 16, 2020
From the Vault:  "A History of Bloch Brothers Tobacco," originally presented by Stuart Bloch, April 27, 2010.

In 2010, Stuart Bloch joined us to discuss the history of his family’s world-famous business: Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company, makers of stogies and Mail Pouch chew, a product famously promoted with iconic, painted barns that still dot the U.S. landscape.

Tuesday | June 9, 2020
From the Vault:  People's University: WWII - "Blitzkrieg, Bombs, and Battles: The Road to D-Day" with Dr. Gary Kappel. Originally presented on June 12, 2018.

In Sept. 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and World War II officially began. Western technological advances had brought about the most destructive war in human history as the Axis nations (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan) fought the Allied nations (Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and later, the U.S.) in the European, the Pacific, and the Mediterranean, African & Middle East Theatres. The pivotal Battle of Normandy, beginning with the June 6th D-Day invasion in 1944, marked the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

Tuesday | June 2, 2020
From the Vault: "A Look at Our Past...A Glimpse Into Our Future" with Diana L. Bell, LSW, Racial Justice Director at the YWCA in Wheeling. Originally presented Tuesday, February 23, 2010.

In her opening statements in this week's Lunch With Books From the Vault from 2010, Diana Bell, then Racial Justice Director at the YWCA in Wheeling, states "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it." Her presentation, “A Look at our Past...A Glimpse into our Future,” gave an overview of African American History in the United States and the microcosm of Wheeling as well. In dialogue with the audience, she talks about the fact that, even in Wheeling, there is a need for African American parents to give their children instructions on how to interact in the community for safety, how "separate but equal" was never equal, and the necessity to create an even playing field to move forward in the movement to eliminate racism. Ten years later, it is disheartening to see that we are still, as a nation, dealing with issues we should have resolved long ago. As an institution whose mission is to provide free and equal access to resources to everyone in our community, the Ohio County Public Library stands in solidarity with those working to combat inequality and institutionalized racism. Let's learn from history and not just hope for, but create a better future.

Tuesday | May 26, 2020
From the Vault:  American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor with ADBC Museum Curator Jim Brockman.
Originally presented Tuesday, June 26, 2018.

Captured by the Japanese following their conquest of the Philippines in 1942, thousands of American military personnel died while imprisoned under horrific conditions. The American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Museum, located in the Brooke County Library in Wellsburg, WV, is the official national archive, designated as such by the ADBC, of artifacts and documents donated by the survivors and their descendants. Museum Curator Jim Brockman gave a history of the Bataan Death March and shared artifacts from the ADBC Museum.

Tuesday | May 19, 2020
From the Vault:  "Library Memories" hosted by WV Poet Laureate, Marc Harshman.
Originally presented Friday, April 19, 2013.

The Ohio County Public Library opened its current location at 52 16th Street in Wheeling, WV on May 19, 1973. Back in 2013, celebrating the upcoming 40th anniversary of the door opening at 16th Street and as part of our National Library Week celebration, the Library hosted a special Friday program devoted to the most cherished memories of the OCPL or any library that impacted our patrons' lives. Hosted by West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman, memories, poems, and other writings about the importance of libraries and the love of reading were shared. Even WV Governor Tomblin sent us a special message just for this event!

Tuesday | May 5, 2020 (Cinco de Mayo!)
From the Vault:  "Latin Music" played by Diamante Trio with Brazilian songstress Lilly Abreu.
Originally presented Tuesday, May 1, 2018.

To get the Lunch With Books crowd in the Cinco de Mayo mood, the Diamante Trio visited us at the Ohio County Public Library, Tuesday, May 1, 2018, serenading us with the Latin American spirit. Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra and Westmoreland Symphony musicians form this ensemble that features all styles of music from Latin America. Brazilian songstress Lilly Abreu, also from Pittsburgh Opera, sang in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and shared information about the languages, the songs, and the composers in this Lunch With Books Cinco de Mayo treat.

Tuesday | April 28, 2020
From the Vault:  "The Benwood Mine Disaster Remembered" with Joseph Tellitocci Jr.
Originally presented Tuesday, April 26, 2011.

Joseph A. Tellitocci of Boggs Run, Benwood, WV has done extensive research on the Benwood Mine Disaster of April 28, 1924 in which 119 men— mostly Polish, Italian, and Hungarian immigrants— lost their lives. Among those killed was Istvan (Stephen) Vargo, Mr. Tellitocci’s great-grandfather. 

Monday | April 27, 2020
From the Vault:  "The Sultana Disaster" with Kate Quinn.
Originally presented Tuesday, September 27, 2011.

On April 21, 1865 the steamer Sultana left New Orleans with 2000 men on board. Most were Union soldiers that had been released from Confederate prison camps. The U.S. Government had contracted the boat to return the men to their homes in the North. Several of those men were from Wheeling. At 2 a.m. on April 27, the boilers exploded killing 1,547 men. The boat's legal capacity was 376. Through pictures and words, the Library's great friend, Kate Quinn (February 25, 1946 - January 22, 2018), told the moving story of the Sultana Disaster.

Tuesday | April 21, 2020
From the Vault:  "Passing the Music Down" - with author Sarah Sullivan with old-time fiddle music.
Originally presented Tuesday, April 17, 2012.

West Virginia children's book writer, Sarah Sullivan, visited the Ohio County Public Library as part of the "Lunch With Books" series, Tuesday, April 17th, 2012, joined by musicians Richard Pollack and Scott Black, from the local Cabin Fever String Band. Sullivan spoke about her latest book, "Passing the Music Down, and Pollack and Black accompanied with old-time fiddle music.

Tuesday | April 14, 2020
From the Vault: "Abraham Lincoln: Reflections, 150 Years" with David Thomas, Roger Hoard (guitar), and Allegro Dance. Originally presented Tuesday, April 14, 2020.

At 10:05 pm, April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth while attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. 150 years later, Tuesday, April 14, 2015, we honored Lincoln at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling, WV, with a program of reflections on the life, death, and legacy of the 16th president in poetry, song, and dance. 

Tuesday | April 7, 2020
From the Vault: "The Hard Way on Purpose" with author David Giffels.
Originally presented Tuesday, July 2, 2014.

Author David Giffels joined us at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library, July 2, 2014, to discuss his book "The Hard Way on Purpose," a collection of linked essays about the quirky, hard-bitten cultural landscape of the Rust Belt and the people who thrive there.

Tuesday | March 31, 2020
From the Vault: "Murder Never Dies" with author and researcher George Sidiropolis.
Originally presented Tuesday, February 14, 2017.

Today we're stepping back in the time machine to Valentine's Day, 2017, to bring back one of our highest attended programs (220 people!) Please enjoy George Sidiropolis, author and researcher of the book "Murder Never Dies" talking about "Crime and Corruption in the Friendly City."

Tuesday | March 24, 2020
From the Vault: "Ladies For Liberty - WWII-Era Music in the Andrews Sisters Style"
Originally presented Tuesday, July 3, 2018.

We thought everyone might like a little "sentimental journey" while we're all practicing our social distancing, so we took things back to July 3, 2018 when the fantastic Ladies for Liberty visited us for a very nostalgic and patriotic Lunch With Books.

Tuesday | March 17, 2020 
From the Vault: "The Irish Easter Rising: Remembering the Poet's Rebellion of 1916" 
Originally presented Tuesday, March 15, 2016.

Tuesday | March 17, 2020  - BONUS EPISODE!
From the Vault: "The Wheeling Irish" presented by Margaret Brennan.
Originally presented Tuesday, March 18, 2014.