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#colorourcollections

#ColorOurCollections

an online exhibit by West Virginia Regional & History Center and West Virginia University Art in the Libraries

Text and research by Stewart Plein, Rare Books Curator, West Virginia and Regional History Center, as presented at the National Digital Newspaper Conference, September 17, 2020.

Launched by The New York Academy of Medicine Library in 2016, #ColorOurCollections is an annual coloring festival on social media during which libraries, museums, archives and other cultural institutions around the world share free coloring content featuring images from their collections.

The annual #ColorOurCollections week generally occurs on the first full week of February.

Past Coloring Books

Past coloring books have included images from rare books, archives and regional titles from West Virginia University’s West Virginia and Regional History Center special collections, like these West Virginia University students from the early 1900’s.

Pages Past: Historical figures, Nursery Rhymes, and Gardening catalogs

Coloring Pages 2020

This year’s coloring book took a new approach using advertisements from one of our newspapers, the Fairmont West Virginian, from May 1923.

This choice proved to be more popular than we could have ever imaged!

Smithsonian Magazine, Feb. 4, 2020:

One Hundred Museums Transformed Their Collections Into Free Coloring Pages

“Artists can dip their toes into other eras of history with a series of 1920s advertisements for soda, butter and shoes from the West Virginia and Regional History Center.”

This year’s #ColorOurCollections campaign features everything from medical drawings to zany 1920s advertisements for butter.

By Katherine J. Wu, smithsonianmag.com

Scroll through some colored pages at right! --->

He’s kinda creepy, but he loves his Brookfield butter!

It’s a rainbow of flavor! Coloring by @sallery_art.

A Modern Mixed Media Masterpiece! Collage by Miriam Cady.

You’ve heard of that famous painting, Little Boy Blue. How about Little Butterfield Boy outlined in blue! Coloring by Lemley Mullet.

This time with popcorn style thought bubbles! Coloring by Jessica Eichlin.

Looking for a new Living Room Suite?

Look no further! Coloring by @sallery_art.

Be one in a million in our boaters!

Coloring by @sallery_art.

Let the Battle Begin: Broom vs Vacuum Cleaner! We have a Winner! The Vacuum Cleaner! Coloring by Lemley Mullet.

That wonderful new invention: women long for it! Coloring by @sallery_art.

#ColorOurCollections and tag us!

What you can learn from an advertisement: Swift & Co.

Owned by a Brazilian company today
Founded by 16-year-old Gustavus Franklin Swift in 1855 with a butchering shop in Eastham, Massachusetts.
Swift quickly expanded to other locations: Cape Cod , Brighton, MA, Albany, NY, Buffalo, N. Y.
In 1875 Swift and Company moved to Chicago, joining with Armour.
In 1902, Swift and Armour acquired a controlling interest in the Fort Worth Stockyards .
An antitrust lawsuit was filed against Swift for conspiring with other companies to control the meatpacking industry. This led to the 1905 Supreme Court case of Swift & Co. v. United States.
Later, Swift sold dairy and grocery items, including shortening, margarine, Brookfield butter, and cheese under the Brookfield, Pauly, and Treasure Cave brands, and Peter Pan peanut butter.
Swift sold frozen turkeys under the Butterball brand in 1954. Gustavus Swift also championed the refrigerated railroad car.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JBS_USA

#ColorOurCollections

Fairmont West Virginian, May 1923

Thanks to Jessica Eichlin, Lemley Mullet, Miriam Cady and Sally Brown for submitting their coloring pages for this presentation and online exhibition.
https://library.nyam.org/colorourcollections/category/institutions/west-virginia-and-regional-history-center/
For more online exhibits by West Virginia University Art in the Libraries visit https://exhibits.lib.wvu.edu/virtual.

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