The Appalshop Archive is a We the People project of the National Endowment for the Humanities: strengthening the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture.

What is the Appalshop Archive?

What We Do

The archive at Appalshop includes thousands of hours of film, videotape, audio recordings as well as photography and supporting materials that portray a multifaceted view of life and history in the Appalachian region.

Appalshop media makers have documented some of the most vital individuals in the region including ballad collector John Jacob Niles, authors James Still and Harriette Arnow, and tradition bearers such as renowned storyteller Ray Hicks and folk artist Chester Cornett, all deceased, as well as living legends including musicians Ralph Stanley, Jean Ritchie, and others. In addition, Appalshop’s audiovisual records span a wide range of practices of community institutions such as the Old Regular Baptist Church, and address important social topics like stripmining, labor organizing, in-and-out migration, and Appalachian representation in American popular culture. Appalshop films and videos contain interviews and footage of Appalachian people from all walks of life, from coalminers to lawyers, national politicians to local sheriffs, granny midwives to teen-aged basketball players. June Appal’s early recordings contain some of the best examples of Appalachian traditional music—music that has played an integral role in the development of American popular music, as well as being important and entertaining in its own right.

It is the mission of the Appalshop Archive to conserve and preserve this great body of work in film, video, audio, and visual images, as it provides irreplaceable windows into understanding part of America’s legacy.

The work of the Appalshop Archive is made possible through the generous support of:

Appalshop P&E Fund Berea College Appalachian Fund Cineric, Inc. Kentucky Arts Council Kentucky Historical Society Letcher County Tourism Committee NAMAC (National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture) National Endowment for the Arts National Endowment for the Humanities National Film Preservation Foundation National Historical Publications and Records Commission National Television & Video Preservation Foundation New York Women in Film & TV Save America's Treasures, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Park Service. Wallace Foundation West Virginia Humanities Council Women Donors Network