Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 00: Archive About
Keeper & Co-Editor
HELEN HAYES WYKLE
PMSS CONNECTIONS
As co-editor with Ann Angel Eberhardt since 2000, I have enjoyed the opportunity to revisit Pine Mountain on a very personal level. I was born in the Infirmary at the School in 1942 and as a child I lived at the School for eleven years. Over the years I frequently returned to PMSS with my parents.
My father, William Hayes, was the Farm Manager from 1939 until 1953 and later a member of the Board of Trustees. My mother, Fern Hall Hayes, served as Secretary to multiple Directors and as a member of the Advisory Board. When my parents retired they kept me in continual contact with the institution over the years as they both contributed countless volunteer hours. My father, the son of a coal miner from the Coxton coal camp, and my mother from Viper, Kentucky, and cousin to the Ritchie “Singing Family of the Cumberlands,” were both students at Pine Mountain Settlement School in the 1930s. They had many siblings and relatives who were advantaged by the education the School provided. An Uncle, Paul Hayes, was a student at PMSS 1936-1940 and a Director of the School 1986-1996.
EDUCATION
1992 Possum Trot University School of the Elegant Arts M.E. (Mighty Elegant)
1985-1986 UC Berkeley M.L.I.S. Library and Information Science, 1986. Academic Librarianship
1976-1977 San Jose State University, M.A. Art History, 1977. Southern Renaissance
1970 Tulane University, Coursework. Art History
1968-1969 Sonoma State University, Coursework, 1967-68. Secondary Education, Special Education
1964-1965 Ohio University, Coursework toward M.F.A. Studio Art. Painting. Assistantship Guidance and Counseling, Office of Dean of Women
1960-1964 Berea College, B.A. Art, 1964. Studio Art
1963 University of Arizona (Guadalajara, Mexico), Coursework 1963. Anthropology, Sculpture, Spanish
EXPERIENCE
*2002-present Volunteer co-editor with Ann Angel Eberhardt, of website https://pinemountainsettlementschool.net
2000 – present Pine Mountain Settlement School Board of Trustees
1996 – 2013 Associate Professor, Librarian, Archivist, University of NC Asheville
1994 – 1996 Faculty, Art Department, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC
1992 -1994 Head Public Services – Library, Warren Wilson College, Asheville, NC
1987 – 1992 Sr. Museum Scientist. Director, Media Svcs., UC Irvine School of Fine Arts
1984-1986 Library Assistant III, Reference Department, UC San Diego, Geisel Library
1980-1984 Library Assistant II, UC San Diego, Mandeville Slide Collections
1978-1984 Adjunct Instructor – various placements – Art History instruction
· San Diego City College, Art History
· Gavilan College, Art History. Interdisciplinary Studies
· San Jose State University, Art History
· Maysville Community College (University of Kentucky), Art, Art History
1965-67 American Airlines, Stewardess
COMPETENCIES
Spanish, American Sign Language, French (reading); Research; Grant writing; Painting; Exhibition design; Carpentry; Fly-fishing
HONORS, AWARDS, BOARDS
Wilma Dykeman Legacy Board, Founding member 2012 – 2015
Sondley Award, Asheville and Buncombe County Historic Preservation 2010
Western North Carolina History Award 2009
Buncombe County, NC Heritage Council (2004-2009)
Old Buncombe County Genealogical and History Association Award 2009
Beta Tau Mu, Library Honor Society (Lifetime)
State (NC) Library Digitization Advisory Board (NC ECHO) 1997 – 2009
American Library Assoc. (ALA) Graphics Advisory Board 1991-1992
President ARLIS/Southern California 1990-91
Society of American Archivists (SAA) Education Committee, So. California 1991
Pine Mountain Settlement School Board of Directors 2000-present
Board, Together We Read, Western NC 2008- 2010
American Library Association (ALA) Delegation – Russia 2007
American Library Association (ALA) Delegation – China 2011
SPEAKER, PAPERS, CONFERENCE ORG., EXHIBITION
Respondent Pen & Plate Club, Asheville, NC 2019
City of Bits technology conf. UNCA Library, coordinator
Biltmore and Beyond, First Year Experience, UNCA coordinator, instructor
NCLA Conf, Archival Practice – Hidden Collections, speaker
ALA.”Asheville 1909 Conf.” coordinator, host
Exhibitions (with students): Biltmore Industries; Blue Ridge Pkwy; YWCA; Writers & Mountains; North Carolina 1909 ALA Conf.; YWCA Exhibition, etc.
Society of American Archivists (SAA)-So. Calif. Annual Conf. San Diego, speaker
Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS) So. Calif. International Conf. Guadalajara, Mexico, ARLIS, Mexico., coordinator, presenter
Retired from UNC Asheville, January 1, 2013
SPECIAL INTEREST
* The return to Pine Mountain Settlement School as a member of the Board of Trustees in 2000 brought me into close contact with the collections of the institution. When I was given permission to browse the collections, my library and archival sensitivities kicked in. It was clear that the collections were in jeopardy. I conspired with Ann Angel Eberhardt ( About Ann Angel Eberhardt (Keeper) who had recently retired from the Smithsonian Institution, to begin to remediate the damage of years of neglect and to bring her talents and mine to bear on the holdings.
Our first action was to address the physical degradation of the holdings. Ann and I enlisted a corps of volunteers to join us, picked from the community, from former staff, from sororities who had Pine Mountain Settlement as their philanthropy, from relatives, and from professional contacts. It is those collaborators who continue to share in the future of the collections. Like our continuing volunteers, the PMSS Archive is a rewarding journey that none of us seems to want to abandon.
Did I mention that Ann is my ***second cousin? Did I mention that we are both related across many of the families represented in the collections of the School? Did I mention that our age enabled us to personally know many of those whose biographies are on the website? For the last 17 years, we have served as co-editors of this site and have benefited from the deep immersion in memories, in the community of volunteers who have journeyed with us, and in our discoveries of place, ideas, and tribulations. It is within this rich archival context that we are all continuing to grow in understanding; we are all continuing to share, and are continuing to learn about ourselves and others. It is within this extended “family” that we have found the joy and the reward of community and “place-based education.”
June 18, 2019
***Ann has reminded me: “Second cousin” is defined in this manner online:
First cousins share a grandparent, second cousins share a great-grandparent (Eli Hall, right?), third cousins share a great-great-grandparent, and so on. … Your second cousin once removed is the child (or parent) of your second cousin (Heather!). And your first cousin twice removed is the grandchild (or grandparent) of your first cousin. Got it? [She’s good at this!]
41 Edgemont Road, Asheville 28801
hhwykle@gmail.com
