7/11/2021
Homeschoolers’ Day Camp, 2017.
The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum (BRIM) of Ferrum College is pleased to announce a new membership initiative, called “Friends of the BRIM.”
“This is our first ever membership campaign,” said BRIM Director Bethany Worley. “These membership opportunities are an exciting part of the BRIM’s future. This is a great way for us to share what we do—which is documenting the rich cultural heritage of the Blue Ridge region and bringing it to life for all generations. We look forward to connecting with our special ‘Friends of the BRIM’ and offering unique opportunities just for them.”
The initiative encompasses four membership packages with various perks:
Moonshiner Membership is $30 per year ($25 for senior citizens) and includes free admission to the Blue Ridge Farm Museum for the year along with two single-use guest passes, discounts on workshops and gift shop items, access to exhibit previews and members-only events, and more.
Homestead Membership may be purchased for $60 per year and includes free admission to the Farm Museum for two adults and two children, four single-use guest passes, discounts on workshops and gift shop items, access to exhibit previews and members-only events, and more.
Folklorist Membership is $150 per year and includes the same perks as the Moonshiner and Homestead tiers, with additional discounts on workshops and gift shop items, an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour, two free tickets to the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival, and more.
Mountaineer Membership is the highest tier and costs $500 per year. These members will receive free admission to the farm museum for four visitors, four single-use guest passes, discounts on workshops and gift shop items, a behind-the-scenes tour for up to eight people, access to exhibit previews and members-only events, four free Folklife Festival tickets, Folklife Festival t-shits, and an exclusive parking pass for the Festival.
“Friends of the BRIM” memberships will become available for purchase on July 13, 2021 and beyond, on the BRIM’s online gift shop site. Click here to visit and become a member.
Additionally, the BRIM is offering a $5 discount to those who purchase tickets for this year’s Folklife Festival, scheduled for October 23, through its online gift shop site. Tickets will go on sale online on July 16, 2021. Click here to buy them. More information about this year’s Festival will be available soon!
Learn more about the BRIM here.
5/28/2021
The Blue Ridge Institute & Museum at Ferrum College
Ferrum College has been named one of twenty-four Council of Independent College (CIC) institutions to participate in “Humanities Research for the Public Good” in 2021-22, a national initiative promoting student research and public engagement. This initiative focuses on showcasing library and museum collections held at private colleges and universities. Ferrum College will receive a grant of $10,000 to implement a year-long undergraduate research project in collaboration with the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum (BRIM) and the Franklin County Public Library.
“Independent colleges are stronger when they share their resources with their communities and so are their communities,” said CIC President Richard Ekman. “Those resources often include significant archival or library collections that can illuminate issues of real public importance.”
Ferrum’s project, titled “Preserving and Sharing Old and New Stories from the James Taylor Adams Collection and the Public,” will make more accessible the collection of Appalachian folklore and ballads organized by James Taylor Adams during the 1930s and 40s.
In the early 1930s, Adams, a writer from Wise County, Virginia, recognized the importance of preserving Appalachian folklore and ballads. He partnered with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936 to make carbon copies of local lore and planned for a book publication. After the WPA unexpectedly shut down in 1943, the book never happened. Adams died in 1954 and his papers were given to Clinch Valley College (now UVA’s College at Wise), where they sat in boxes, unorganized and abandoned, until Ferrum College researchers received permission to bring a copy to the College in the 1980s. The material, measured by archivists at twelve linear feet, was then organized in categories and stored in the archive at the BRIM. Bethany Worley, current director of the BRIM, participated in that work early in her career and now looks forward to making the collection more widely available to researchers and the public.
In the fall of 2021, the BRIM, with the help of several Ferrum College students, will begin work to digitize the Adams Collection, which will expand the BRIM website and improve public access to folktales and ballads from Southwestern Virginia. The students will learn about history and maintenance of records, including the skills needed to scan or retype fragile pages, catalog items, edit web pages, prepare for live storytelling workshops, and more.
“This project provides a wonderful experiential opportunity for our humanities students. It fits very well with our new minor in Public History and Museum Studies,” said Professor of English Tina Hanlon, who plans to work on this project during her sabbatical next year. (Explore Ferrum’s history program here.)
In 2022, the Franklin County Public Library will begin hosting public storytelling workshops to introduce locals to the Adams Collection material and teach them storytelling methods. Professor Emeritus of Theatre Arts Rex Stephenson will lead the workshops. He has used archived tales from the James Taylor Adams Collection to dramatize Appalachian folktales since the 1970s. The grant proposal describes the workshops as offering “live storytelling to link archive copies of folktales from Southwestern Virginia with popular dramatic adaptations that have been performed in this region for decades, and encourage the public to collect, preserve and share their own stories.”
The CIC’s grant selection process was extremely selective. Anne M. Valk, historian and executive director of the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at the CUNY Graduate Center, leads the program.
“I was impressed by the good work that faculty and staff are already doing to support community engagement and humanities research,” said Valk. “So many independent colleges are committed to public-facing scholarship and exploring the hidden potential of their collections.”
Learn more about Appalachian folktales and literature by visiting the AppLit: Resources for Readers and Teachers of Appalachian Literature Facebook page, or the AppLit website.
Members of the Scott family cut the ribbon commemorating the Leo H. Scott Educational Pavilion.
The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum at Ferrum College celebrated the completion of the Leo H. Scott Educational Pavilion with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Blue Ridge Farm Museum on Wednesday, October 16, 2019.
Leo Scott was often called the backbone of the Ferrum community.
Named for the late Leo Hamilton Scott, a Ferrum local who was often described as the backbone of the community, the pavilion was made possible by his wife Geraldine Scott and her grandchildren Chase and Kelli. The Scott family is a longtime presence in the town of Ferrum and strong supporters of the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum, and Ferrum College.
“The educational pavilion is my special gift to Leo,” said Geraldine. “It means a great deal to me for everyone to be able to use it, from school children, to the Ferrum community for reunions and parties, to college students. I can’t wait to see it in use.”
Scott was a 1951 graduate of Ferrum Junior College. In 1953, he founded Leo Scott Cabinets and employed many local father and son pairs to custom-make cabinets that were shipped throughout southeast Virginia. Scott was active in the Ferrum community; he founded the Ferrum Rescue Squad and Ferrum Volunteer Fire Department. In 2001, Ferrum College awarded Scott the Benjamin M. Beckham Medallion, the most prestigious alumni award named after the College’s first president. He was also named Franklin County’s Farmer of the Year in 2013. Scott passed away in February 2017 at age 84.
“We are so grateful to the Scott family for this generous gift to the 1800s farm museum,” said Bethany Worley, director of the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum. “We’ve needed an educational facility for decades to serve our growing numbers of school tours, homeschooling events, and for the annual Blue Ridge Folklife Festival. The Leo H. Scott Educational Pavilion will also be instrumental in our community fellowship. Everyone can be a part of Ferrum College.”
“The Leo H. Scott Educational Pavilion will be a center for learning, recreation, and reflection for years to come,” said Ferrum College President David Johns. “It will stand as a lasting memorial to a beloved member of this community. We are grateful to Geraldine Scott for her gift to Ferrum College and to the Village of Ferrum.”
Read more about Leo Hamilton Scott in this Franklin News Post article.
Learn more about the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum here.
