Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 00: Archives
Mission Statement

….continued from the Main Page INDEX TO ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS

HISTORY

The Appalachian rural Settlement Movement came later than the national urban Settlement Movement on which it is based. The Appalachian rural movement has historically not attracted the national attention paid to its urban counterpart such as Jane Addams Hull House experiment in Chicago, and other cities in the Northeast, but rural Settlement work is a significant contributor to the history of the Settlement Movement, generally. 

The rural movement deserves more attention. This digital archive opens the door to the rich history of the region and provides an in-depth exploration of the rural Settlement Movement’s administrative structures and how they played out in distinct rural communities. The rural 
Settlement Movement created and shaped the first Settlement community in Kentucky, Hindman Settlement School [earlier name, W.C.T.U Settlement] and Pine Mountain Settlement School followed. Both Hindman and Pine Mountain are indebted to their founder Katherine Pettit for her foundational leadership in the Southern Appalachians. Pine Mountain Settlement and Hindman have both contributed to other Appalachian Settlement developments and historical traces of that support may be found throughout the Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections record.  

Today, the digital record of Pine Mountain Settlement School has produced over 2,800 digital pages of local, regional, national, and, especially, biographical materials related to the early Settlement Movement in Appalachia.  A new endeavor to relate the Pine Mountain materials to the large repository of SIA [Settlement Institutions of Appalachia] Records held at Berea College, Kentucky, will greatly expand and nurture the history of the Appalachian Settlement Movement. It is a pleasure to share digital materials from Pine Mountain Settlement.  This record is being made accessible to a growing body of scholars, former students, and, importantly, the indigenous community of early settler families and those whose lives were touched by, changed by, and, more importantly, valued by this Settlement School over its long 100-year history. 

The Pine Mountain Settlement School collection of digitized material includes in-depth biographies, autobiographies, family histories, interviews, administrative and governance documents, photographs (1900s – present), book collections, descriptions of arts and crafts, film and video holdings, music, oral histories, textiles, and a myriad of other interests and formats. A GUIDE to specific interests is outlined BELOW and in the more complete ARCHIVE INDEX. 

While the materials in this virtual archive detail the rural settlement movement, it is the lens of the earlier and inclusive national movement that gives the material historical depth.  The unique individuals and the discreet collections within the Pine Mountain Settlement School archive capture the unique essence of the rural settlement movement ethos that still permeates the surrounding culture.  Biographies are particularly interesting. They provide deeply personal and often diverse perspectives that resonate across disparate geographies and sociologies. The abundant materials in this archive can bring new insight to the ongoing debates and conflicts often associated with “Insiders” and “Outsiders” and immigrants and migrants, a topic of growing interest and discord in our contemporary society.

SCALE

The ARCHIVE is a large and growing digital body of primary documents and a social index of decision-making across administrations, staffing, community relations, cultural differences, regional environmental awareness, social conflicts, rules, regulations, and civic responsibility.  It is a diverse and surprising body of material, peppered with personal love stories, murders, eco-enthusiasm, educational dedication and brilliance, and more. The primary material graphically captures the social and cultural life of the rural settlement school and its surroundings, including the coal-mining communities and the town of Harlan. “Remote” — a term so often associated with the rural, takes on a greater significance in the mix of people, ideas, and educational values revealed in the Pine Mountain Settlement School collections. It makes no claim to be tethered to standard archival delivery, nor is it bound to those standards, particularly amid the current digital and AI revolution. It is a work in progress.

SCOPE

Pine Mountain Settlement School in Harlan County, in the far south-eastern part of Kentucky, is unique in the history of settlement institutions of the Southern Appalachians, as it has one of the longest and most consistent histories.  Rural settlement institutions and communities such as those found in North Carolina, East Tennessee, and West Virginia are often aggregated into an “Appalachian” rural whole.  That Appalachian “whole” is debatable. Large urban communities such as those found in Louisville, Lexington, Knoxville, Cincinnati, Asheville, and the Tri-Cities are often used to draw sharp distinctions between urban and regional “rural” neighbors. The distinction is often not so great. Settlement institutions are found in all of those locations, and so can similarities. Urban elements of settlement life can be found at Pine Mountain. The archival collections from Pine Mountain Settlement School’s beginnings in 1913 to the present day hold both rural and urban viewpoints.  Of significant interest is the role of migration from the rural and urban perspective. “Insiders” and “outsiders” are also recurring themes in the literature. The extensive collections of Pine Mountain Settlement School provide a broad investigative field for families, scholars, students, genealogists, and other researchers looking to untangle some of our shared and inherited contemporary questions regarding the topics of bias, myths, and mysteries.

Most documents are available in FULL TEXT & IMAGE. The current online archive of over 2,800 indexed pages is well-supplied with approximately 40,000 photographic images and full-text document images, and a growing body of transcriptions.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT

For over 100 years Pine Mountain Settlement has been focused on enriching lives and connecting people through Appalachian place-based education for all ages.

OUR ARCHIVAL MISSION

The Pine Mountain Settlement School archival mission supports the institutional mission and strategic planning goals. Our institutional mission continues a long 105-year history of multiple educational and social enrichment programs centered on the local community and beyond. Once a boarding school with a progressive educational curriculum, Pine Mountain School’s recent educational programming has moved away from residential education to multi-faceted offerings of short-term environmental, cultural, medical, social, agricultural, and art and craft programs and workshops. Yet, the archive has not moved away from, nor will it move away from, a commitment to Pine Mountain as place and people.

The programs at Pine Mountain Settlement School are evolving to meet the changing needs of the community and region. Today’s programming continues its focus on environmental education and educational support for students in local schools, as well as long-term partnerships with Appalachian-centered programs and short-term workshops for all ages and all geographies.

“Hidden” and largely inaccessible for many years, the materials in the rich local archive are being organized, digitized, and offered through this growing website. Current work with the archive is a volunteer effort. The efforts of Helen Wykle and Ann Angel Eberhardt grew out of their direct and early childhood association with the School. They began their digitization efforts in 2000 following their professional retirements and have continued their efforts since that time. The digital offerings on this website reflect the editors’ selections as well as the recommendations and interests of collection users. If possible, we also develop online collection material based on requests from users who have relatives connected to the institution. Often, we search for related material that can be made available from the collections when we receive requests and inquiries from users preparing material for publication.

Our selected materials are focused on reflecting life in the Pine Mountain valley and in many parts of the Southern Appalachians from 1913 until the present, with an emphasis on life in the early boarding school years [1913-1949], as described above. The boarding school materials highlight settlement school staff, the people in the surrounding community, former staff, students, buildings, journals, letters, farming practice, linguistics, weaving, dancing, singing, drinking, funeralizing, politicking, and much more. As we expand our material to include later years, it is our mission to reach out to a broad range of interests, including those of former students in the Community School, former workers, new visitors, old visitors, coal miners, environmentalists, farmers, teachers, and the broader public. The focus of post 1949 material is to capture the essence of the later administrations and their programming. We are eager to encourage new scholarship, new insights, new research directions, and new friends for Pine Mountain Settlement School. 

We are always appreciative of designated contributions to the Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections to support and maintain our efforts. 

To visit the main page for Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections click the link below. 
INDEX TO ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS.

Click the following to visit the main page for current events at the School
PINE MOUNTAIN SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

Location: 36 Highway 510 Bledsoe, KY 40810
Phone: (606) 558-3571
Email: info@pinemountainsettlementschool.com
Hours of Operation: Mon-Fri 8:00am – 4:00pm 

TO BEGIN THE ARCHIVAL  JOURNEY

INDEX TO ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS

ONLINE COLLECTIONS NOW NUMBER OVER 2800 PAGES …

 An in-depth digital look at the ARCHIVE at Pine Mountain Settlement School. The collections include photographs, documents, biographies, craft, videos, land use, architectural planning, and other subjects that describe and explore the institution from its beginnings in 1913 to the present day.
Most documents are available in FULL TEXT.
Work is ongoing.

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