School Exhibit Room

The School Exhibit Room commemorates the history of education in Harrison County. Though the county once boasted over one hundred schools, that number has now shrunk to a quarter of the original institutions due to consolidation. Artifacts range from the nineteenth century through the twentieth, and include furniture, garments, and paper materials. Some highlights of the collection include a coal stove once used to heat a one-room schoolhouse. The teacher would have had to arrive well before the students in order to begin heating the room. Another significant object is a diploma from West Virginia University awarded to Charles W. Lynch in 1874. You might have some trouble reading it however, as it is written in Latin. In this entry’s audio clip, museum president Michael Spatafore discusses these objects and more in the context of Harrison County’s historical schools.