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["Eleanor Betler was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia in 1940 and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She spent her summers in Helvetia at the farm of her maternal grandparents, James and Anna Merkli McNeal. She married Howard Bud Betler in 1961. The couple moved to a hilltop farm in Helvetia and raised four children. All the good cooks, many of them relatives of Mr. Betler taught Mrs. Betler about canning, preserving, cooking and baking. She was especially interested to learn the skills of butchering and preserving meat, and making sausage. Mrs. Betler loves the Swiss traditional baking but also Appalachian ways of some neighbors. She grinds her own flour for baking bread. At Fasnacht time she invites neighbors and friends to make the hozablatz and rosettes just to keep the tradition alive. She also preserves this history by collecting stories, music, and photographs for The Helvetia Archives.This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted with foodways practitioners in Helvetia, West Virginia, as part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]

1. Transcript of oral history of Eleanor Betler

Identifier:
4224.BetlerEleanor.IntTranscript.2.5.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Eleanor Betler
Date:
2016-02-05
Creator:
Betler, Eleanor
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Cooking, Swiss, Sheep farming, Carnival, Wild leek, Helvetia (W. Va.), Canning and preserving, 4-H clubs, Food habits, Dairy cattle, Cheesemaking, Beef cattle, Bread, foodways, Hill farming, Orchards, Bakers, Swiss American women, Swine, and Corn bread
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["Frank George (October 6, 1928 November 15, 2017), a Bluefield native, was a banjo player, fiddler, and piper, who also played piano, organ, hammer and lap dulcimer, and was a walking compendium of West Virginia traditional music history and jokes. He was the recipient of the 1994 Vandalia Award, West Virginias highest folklife honor. Jane George (November 11, 1922 February 19, 2018) helped launch the craft revival in the Mountain State through extensive fieldwork with traditional artists, educational programming, and by co-founding the Mountain State Art & Craft Fair at Cedar Lakes. She also hosted Mountain Heritage weekends and Kanawha County Parks Mountaineer Day Camps to teach young mountaineers about their cultural heritage, founded two Scottish dance troupes, and served as a 4-H agent in multiple counties. She was the 1993 Vandalia Award recipient. "]

2. Transcript of oral history of Frank and Jane George

Identifier:
4224.GeorgeFrankGeorgeJane.IntTranscript.4.19.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Frank and Jane George
Date:
2016-04-19
Creator:
George, Jane Taylor and George, Franklin
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Craft festivals, Fiddling, Fiddle tunes, 4-H clubs, Old-time music, Banjo, Folk music--West Virginia, and Walker, John Homer
Location:
Roane County (W. Va.)
["W.I. Bill Hairston, 71, is a storyteller, old-time musician, and pastor (Westminster Presbyterian Church) living in Charleston, West Virginia. He was born in Phenix City, Alabama, and his family moved to Saint Albans, West Virginia in 1960 when he was 11. Through his storytelling, Hairston, as he says in the interview, combines the Appalachian culture that he was exposed to on the Coal River, to the African-American culture that he is a part of. For 35 years, he served as music coordinator at the Stonewall Jackson Jubilee, and is currently the coordinator of the Vandalia Gatherings West Virginia Liars Contest. Hairston is an active member of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild, the Kentucky Storytelling Association, and the Ohio Storytelling Network, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and serves as the West Virginia liaison to the National Storytelling Network. He has performed in concerts, festivals, libraries, corporate meetings, conventions and schools throughout the region and the country. This interview is a follow-up to Emily Hilliards September 10, 2019 interview with Hairston. In this interview, Hairston discusses his participation in the last segregated Black 4-H Camp at Camp Washington-Carver, and the first integrated 4-H Camp at Jacksons Mill. He also speaks about his summer job with the Department of Natural Resources and his involvement in the United Methodist Youth Fellowship when he was young."]

3. Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston

Identifier:
4224.HairstonBill.AudioInt.12.15.20
Title:
Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston
Date:
2020-12-15
Creator:
Hairston, Bill
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Racism, Storytelling, African Americans--Appalachian Region, Segregation in education, Folklore, 4-H clubs, and School integration
Location:
Charleston (W. Va.)
["W.I. Bill Hairston, 71, is a storyteller, old-time musician, and pastor (Westminster Presbyterian Church) living in Charleston, West Virginia. He was born in Phenix City, Alabama, and his family moved to Saint Albans, West Virginia in 1960 when he was 11. Through his storytelling, Hairston, as he says in the interview, combines the Appalachian culture that he was exposed to on the Coal River, to the African-American culture that he is a part of. For 35 years, he served as music coordinator at the Stonewall Jackson Jubilee, and is currently the coordinator of the Vandalia Gatherings West Virginia Liars Contest. Hairston is an active member of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild, the Kentucky Storytelling Association, and the Ohio Storytelling Network, the National Association of Black Storytellers, and serves as the West Virginia liaison to the National Storytelling Network. He has performed in concerts, festivals, libraries, corporate meetings, conventions and schools throughout the region and the country. In this interview, Hairston speaks about growing up in one of three Black families in the Lick Skillet area of Saint Albans along the Coal River, his interest in and work with rural West Virginia old-time musicians and 4-H camps, his friendship with Frank and Jane George, experiences with racism in West Virginia, and his work and mission as an Appalachian storyteller."]

4. Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston

Identifier:
4224.HairstonBillIntTranscript9.10.19
Title:
Transcript of oral history of W.I. Bill Hairston
Date:
2019-09-10
Creator:
Hairston, Bill
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Racism, Old-time music, School integration, Hairston, Bill, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp music, Folk music--West Virginia, 4-H clubs, Storytelling, Folklore, African Americans--Appalachian Region, and Walker, John Homer
Location:
Charleston (W. Va.)
["Ernest Hofer, born in Helvetia in 1950, is from a family with deep roots in Helvetia. His grandfather was the first baby boy born in the community in the 1870s. Aside from serving in Vietnam for two years, Hofer has lived in Helvetia his entire life. Hofer recently retired from working in the mines, and has worked at the Pickens [Helvetias neighboring town] Ramp Supper for forty-two years, and the Helvetia Ramp Supper for twenty-five. He is treasurer of the Helvetia Community Hall Association and is a member of the Pickens Volunteer Fire Department. He retired from working in the mines earlier this year.People aren't going to tell you where the ramp patch isthat's a well-kept secret and I'm not tellin' you where mine's at! And a lot of the property has been closed to ramp-digging due to the lumber companies, leasing the property. Which...has hurt the ramp suppers a lot. So, you just can't dig 'em. This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted with foodways practitioners in Helvetia, West Virginia, as part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]

5. Transcript of oral history of Ernest Hofer

Identifier:
4224.HoferErnest.IntTranscript.4.30.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Ernest Hofer
Date:
2016-04-30
Creator:
Hofer, Ernest
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Wine and wine making--United States, Food habits, 4-H clubs, Coal mines and mining, foodways, Helvetia (W. Va.), Wild leek, Cooking, Swiss, and Veterans
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["Cecelia Coleman Smith was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia in 1949. Originally from Pickens, West Virginia, her family moved away from the Helvetia/Pickens community when she was seven so her father could take a coal mining job. She moved back to Pickens in 2005. Mrs. Smith served in the military and is a member of the local American Legion chapter. She is also part of the Pickens Improvement and Historical Society, the Farm Womens Club, and occasionally volunteers at the Hutte Restaurant.This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted with foodways practitioners in Helvetia, West Virginia, as part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]

6. Transcript of oral history of Cecelia Smith

Identifier:
4224.SmithCecelia.IntTranscript.4.30.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Cecelia Smith
Date:
2016-04-30
Creator:
Smith, Cecelia
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Food habits, Cooking, Swiss, Wild leek, Swiss American women, foodways, 4-H clubs, Helvetia (W. Va.), Canning and preserving, and Bakers
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)