Rachel Edinger is a junior WVU history and art & design student, as well as a SURE 2026 participant.
Rachel completed the 2026 SURE program with guidance from her research advisors Dr. William Gorby and Charlie Scott, MFA. For her project, “Scotts Run, West Virginia: Painting to Recover Humanity Through Evidence of Recreation,” Rachel sought to rewrite the narrative of West Virginian communities historically portrayed through the perspective of their labor and their poverty.
All archival photos were sourced from the West Virginia and Regional History Center
An Interview with Rachel Edinger:
"I established that previous documentation of West Virginian families and individuals in public media framed them from the perspective of their labor and their poverty. I sought to rewrite this narrative through a local case study of Scotts Run, WV mining community in the 1920s and 1930s- where I analyzed primary sources such as photos, diary entries, letters, and oral recordings, which resulted in me creating a series of three paintings. I discovered that evidence is clear that individuals in labor communities exercised extreme perseverance through their hardship and preserved their own humanity through recreation and autonomy–specifically in enjoying playing in local waterways (still while battling flooding and pollution) and wearing Sunday best clothing (while experiencing extreme hardship)."
How was the process of combining research and work in history and art together for the project?
"The process of combining the fields of research and my past work in history and painting felt smooth and almost intuitive! Since my classes in history requires many hours of reading and pondering over historic materials, and my classes in the art school have focused on visual analysis and assigning meaning to small details, I found the action of sitting down in the archive and beginning to peruse and note down data was something I was well prepared for by my education at WVU so far!"
As your project showcases WV history and culture, how has this research connected you to WV, Morgantown and its history?
"As a Wheeling native, I have always felt very connected and inspired by West Virginia’s history, as Wheeling is absolutely full of historic architecture, local opportunities for historic learning, and many characters that I have grown fond of listening to stories from. Morgantown has since become my second home, and dedicating the time to discovering a history of a new area has connected me in ways I didn’t expect- I notice street signs and hear names that I have found in the archival material I researched, and I now recognize familiar landscapes in the city that I had seen photos from 100 years ago! Most importantly, though, I have found a connection between the history all West Virginians have come to share, and I find it very important for my future in historic research to make sure that the history we share is portrayed honestly and shared proudly."
What surprised you most while conducting this research?
"When I began the early stages of my research, I was absolutely enthralled with how much archival material is made available to students through the West Virginia and Regional History Center. Many items have not been digitized, so the process of picking out often very old collections and physically flipping through pages gave me a reverence for the astuteness of the staff at the library, while also feeling like the material I was looking at was important, and my attention being on it was valuable. There are so many collections of varying dates and items in the WVRHC, and I encourage curious students to utilize that resource!"
What was your favorite finding while doing research?
"While doing my research, I found a scrapbook in the WVRHC from the late 1920s that included polaroid photos and assigned names of every single child to attend Sunday School in Scotts Run, WV in a given year. Those photos felt like a treasure, as they showed children photographed as individual characters in their Sunday best clothing with unique expressions. I went ahead to include each of these polaroids in my paintings by embedding printed copies of them under the layers of paint."
What advice do you have for students interested in research, especially research in the arts and humanities?
I think confidence in the validity of the arts and humanities as a field of research is of utmost importance- while there is not necessarily an exact method for research in this field, there are infinite opportunities for uncovering information that is most definitely beneficial to a wide audience. For students that are also studying in these fields, I think it would surprise you to discover how many skillsets you have learned in your career so far that could make you well suited for research. Keep an open mind, listen to what people care about– and what you care about, and refer to primary sources always! And, consider signing up for a research opportunity such as SURE or RAP- you will not regret it!
Rachel presented her research at the 2026 Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium. Thank you, Rachel, for sharing your incredible work!
