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Abstract

Scott’s Run has a rich history as a tight-knit, coal-built community in the heart of rural Appalachia. To learn more about the lives of the community members during the Depression Era, an interdisciplinary research team from five departments at a major university in the state conducted an oral history project focused on historical photos of the community. Individuals who grew up in the area reviewed photographs taken early in the 20th century and provided information and shared stories related to the time and place of the images for context. The interviews uncovered key themes that told a much more positive story of the area than previously recorded in histories: progressive race relations, the remarkable sense of “family” among community members, and the importance of a social service organization, shared experiences of mining, and surviving many floods to the development of that sense of family among members of the Scott’s Run community. Also, as a result of the interviews, more accurate descriptions or “tags” of the photos were provided. This project involved students from social work and other disciplines and also informed content throughout a macro HBSE course.

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