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Archives Road Trip: West Virginia

Palmer Hayden (1890–1973) compiled dozens of sketchbooks during his celebrated career as a painter of African American subjects. They document the years Hayden lived in France and also his travels in the United States. While on a road trip in 1938, Hayden stopped to sketch the cityscape of Weirton, a town in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. This drawing shows smoke billowing from steel mills. At the time, Weirton was a leading producer of steel in the United States.

Archives Road Trip: South Carolina

Blanche Lazzell (1878–1956) kept this diary while attending boarding school at South Carolina Coeducational Institute in Edgefield. Lazzell provided details on her day-to-day life—her art classes, her friends, and the weather. After graduating in in 1900, she observed on her train home: “It was a lonely spring evening, I watched the sun go down behind the tall green pines. The moon came up and greeted the lonely little girl. I watched the old moon and it seemed to speak and cheer me on my lonely journey.” The thoughtful young artist eventually became a multi-talented printmaker and designer.