Series 4. Sketchbooks, 1838/1887

Scope and content:

This series contains ten sketchbooks depicting the people and places Strother encountered as a correspondent for Harper's Magazine, hotel operator, traveling artist, and consul to Mexico. Subjects of drawings include log cabins, barns, mills, wagons and coaches, railroad stations, trees, animals, and natural landscapes and features (Warm Springs Ridge, the Potomac River, the Alabama River, and the White Mountains). People rendered in sketches include fishermen, steamship passengers, railroad workers, newsboys, preachers, miners, and various prominent individuals, including Ambrose Burnside, Sitting Bull, John Brown, Shields Green, John Copeland, Aaron Dwight Stevens, and Edwin Coppock. Places depicted include Berkeley Springs, West Virginia; Harper's Ferry, West Virginia; Martinsburg, West Virginia; Charleston, West Virginia; Arlington, Virginia; Mexico; Jefferson County, West Virginia; Kanawha County, West Virginia; Morgan County, West Virginia; Hampshire County, West Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; Clarke County, Virginia; Yancey County, North Carolina; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

A highlight of this series is found in Box 15, Folder 3, which includes sketches relating to John Brown's imprisonment, trial, and execution.

Access and use

Location of collection:
West Virginia and Regional History Center
West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Parent restrictions:

Special access restriction applies. We encourage researchers interested in the journals to use the microfilm copies when possible to preserve the integrity of the fragile originals.

Researchers may access born digital or digitized materials by visiting the link attached to each item or by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia Regional History Center reference department.

Parent terms of access:
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

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