By Pauletta Hansel
We are excited to announce that our partner organization, the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, will host the Urban Appalachian Kith and Kin Exhibit, October-December 2025, at the Catherine C. and Thomas E. Huenefeld Story Center, 800 Vine Street, Cincinnati. Perceptions of Home: The Urban Appalachian Experience will be displayed in the public gallery while the Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Project digital exhibits can be explored via the Center’s four 55’’ interactive touchscreens. These exhibits are part of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition’s Kith and Kin: Appalachians and the Making of Cincinnati. Our work on this project was assisted by a previous grant from Ohio Humanities. The Opening reception is Sunday, October 19, 2-4 pm.
Perceptions of Home: The Urban Appalachian Experience is a traveling exhibit of photographs by Malcolm J. Wilson paired with text from interviews conducted by Don Corathers three decades ago. Completed in 1996, Perceptions of Home features the images and stories of twenty-two families and individuals who through choice or circumstances made greater Cincinnati their home, and includes artists, musicians, educators, business people, blue collar workers, students…as close to the range of the urban Appalachian experience as we could find! If you are one of the urban Appalachians featured in the exhibit, or are a friend or family member of one no longer with us, please contact us. We would love to publicly welcome you at the opening reception.
The Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Exhibit includes over 100 recordings of short interviews conducted with greater Cincinnati residents from 2021 to present, and captures who we are as urban Appalachians today. Many interviewed are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of original migrants, and know Appalachia only through stories shared by their elders. Those featured in these recordings are also invited to let us know you will be in attendance so we can warmly welcome you as well!
But wait, there’s more! One floor up from the Story Center is The Joseph S. Stern, Jr. Cincinnati Room, dedicated to the display of artifacts and material relevant to local history. Throughout the month of October, a pop-up exhibit of Appalachian material from CHPL’s Special Collections will be available for view, including vintage cookbooks, sheet music, photographs from the Cincinnati Enquirer repository, and other items seldom seen by the public!
While all these exhibits will be available during the library’s open hours, October-December 2025, we hope you will mark your calendar now for these the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition’s three free public celebrations.
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Urban Appalachian Kith and Kin Exhibit Opening, Sunday, October 19, 2-4 pm, CHPL Huenefeld Story Center, 2nd Floor. This kick-off event will include refreshments, presentations, music, and the opportunity to interact with many featured in both the Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Project and our original Perceptions of Home Exhibit. Guests will include photographer Malcolm J. Wilson, writer Don Corathers and others who participated in this iconic exhibit thirty years ago, with music by Vine Street Jam (Sherry Cook Stanforth, Dale Farmer, and Jeannie Thieken Creamer) and a poem by our Cincinnati Poet Laureate, Richard Hague.
An Urban Appalachian Homecoming, Sunday, November 9 afternoon. Stay tuned for future information about this community gathering in conjunction with our Urban Appalachian Kith and Kin Exhibit.
UACC Place Keepers Winter Solstice Branch Fest, Wednesday, December 3, 6:15-8 pm CHPL Huenefeld Story Center, 2nd Floor. Save the date for a UACC’s Place Keepers creative community happening inspired by the theme of branches. Folks are invited to bring original poems, spoken word, remembered times, short prose, art pieces, and songs for this mix of open mic and featured guests. A future blog post will include information on how to register to share your creative work, as well as information about featured authors, artists and music.
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The Urban Appalachian story continues to develop in the 21st century, and UACC continues to gather and present the stories of greater Cincinnati’s Urban Appalachian community. Our current Kith and Kin’ Urban Appalachian Story Gathering Project is a partnership with A Picture’s Worth (APW) and gathers stories on the theme of family. CHPL’s Catherine C. and Thomas E. Huenefeld Story Center is a perfect location for our Urban Appalachian Kith and Kin Exhibit as it is not only a place where collected stories can be appreciated, but is also committed to their ongoing collection. Look for a future blog post with more information about story collection this fall, or contact us at [email protected] if you prefer us to let you know directly.
We know that many of our readers live outside the Greater Cincinnati region, and so we remind you that our CHPL friends have helped us develop digital versions of Kith and Kin: Appalachians and the Making of Cincinnati which can be accessed at any time through UACC’s Kith and Kin website and through the CHPL Digital Library. But remember, visiting Kith and Kin: Appalachians and the Making of Cincinnati at CHPL’s Catherine C. and Thomas E. Huenefeld Story Center is a great field trip for your family and friends! We hope to see you this fall at the library!
Pauletta Hansel is Project Director for Kith and Kin: Appalachians and the Making of Cincinnati, and was involved in the creation of the Perceptions of Home: The Urban Appalachian Experience exhibit for the Urban Appalachian Council.