Qualla: West Virginia State Museum

West Virginia State Museum: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dsdugan, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1931 a Braxton County farmer found a piece of sandstone covered in strange carved letters. He sold it to the state in 1940. The state sent it to University of Michigan archaeologist Emerson F. Greenman, who studied the inscriptions and concluded what later researchers have confirmed: the Wilson Stone is, in all likelihood, a fraud. It still sits in the West Virginia State Museum, alongside genuine Civil War regimental flags and pioneer surgical tools. Some pieces in a state museum are there because they are real. Others are there because the story of how they were exposed as fake is itself part of the state's history.

Image: Dsdugan | CC BY-SA 4.0

West Virginia State Museum: A Museum Born With the State

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dsdugan, CC BY 4.0. The museum's roots reach back to 1890, when the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society opened an exhibit inside the state capitol - only 27 years after West Virginia itself had broken from Virginia during the Civil War. Governor William MacCorkle formally opened the mus...

Image: Dsdugan | CC BY 4.0

West Virginia State Museum: What the Collections Hold

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dsdugan, CC BY 4.0. The current museum is managed by the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History, and the exhibits range across natural history, art, geology, paleontology, coal, and the cultural histories of the people who have lived in these hills. The Civil War Regimental Flag Colle...

Image: Dsdugan | CC BY 4.0

West Virginia State Museum: The 17.9 Million Dollar Refit

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pubdog (talk), Public domain. After decades of use, the museum closed for five years and reopened in summer 2009 following a 17.9 million dollar remodel. The new exhibits emphasized immersive design - recreated coal mines, walk-through historical settings, audio narration synced to dioramas. The intent was to...

Image: Pubdog (talk) | Public domain

West Virginia State Museum: The UMWA Complaint

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Analogue Kid, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 2011, United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts wrote a detailed letter complaining about the museum's depiction of his union and of West Virginia labor history. The Battle of Blair Mountain - a 1921 armed uprising of around 10,000 coal miners against company guar...

Image: Analogue Kid | CC BY-SA 3.0