Members of one Appalachian community are mourning the loss of the region’s rich cultural heritage.
The flood-damaged building housing Appalshop, an arts and cultural organization, in Whitesburg, Ky., July 31, 2022. The organization's highest priority is making sure the archives are rescued quickly, before mold can set in. It's still too soon to tell how many of the items are salvageable, damaged or destroyed.
“I’m seeing things that shouldn’t be together,” Gibson said. “There’s a banjo constructed by a master banjo maker covered in mud next to one of our first LP releases in 1970.”The floods killed more than three dozen people across eastern Kentucky and displaced hundreds more. Many are still without power. Even amid the loss of life and property, members of the Appalachian community were also mourning the loss of the region’s cultural heritage.
Gibson and Caroline Rubens, Appalshop’s archivist, are working against the clock alongside some 50 volunteers. Their goal is to recover what Appalshop estimated to be hundreds of thousands of archival pieces from across media: film, photographs, artisan crafts, woodworking, musical instruments, magazines, newspapers, posters and personal family archives that have been donated to the group — all depicting life in the Appalachian Mountains.
Now the organization’s highest priority is making sure the archives are rescued quickly, before mold can set in. It’s still too soon to tell how many of the items are salvageable, damaged or destroyed, but the rescue has been aided by visiting archivists from nearby colleges and universities in Kentucky, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and the greater Appalachia region.
In the aftermath of the floods, Appalshop wants to prioritize the community, Scalos said, and has raised tens of thousands of dollars for various mutual aid groups. The outpouring of support from archivists and volunteers is a true mark of the mountain community, she added. She said there was a similar sense of camaraderie after tornadoes killed 74 people in the region in December.Scalos, who grew up in rural Kentucky, said she joined the organization in part to “reconnect with my own heritage.
“Walking into the radio air room and seeing the situation will about bring you to your knees,” he said. “There was about 5 feet of water in that space, I’m sure it looked like an aquarium at one point.”
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