This year is the 150th anniversary of John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry. On Oct. 16, 1859, Brown and a band of followers seized control of the Harpers Ferry Armory in a plot to build an army to overthrow the South and free the slaves.

John Brown on trial. Sketch by David Hunter Strother.

“John Brown’s Raid is one of the most poignant events in American history,” said John Cuthbert, curator of the West Virginia and Regional History Collection. “Perhaps more than any other single act, it led to the outbreak of the Civil War. John Brown has been cited as the person who contributed more than any other to the start of the Civil War.”

A speaker and exhibit will help attendees better understand the abolitionist, his actions, and the complexities of the issues that divided a nation.

Activities begin at 9:30 a.m. with a reception in the Milano Reading Room. At 10 a.m., Paul Finkelman, a professor at Albany Law School and a specialist in American legal history, race, slavery, and the law, will talk about legal issues and public sentiment surrounding Brown’s trial. Finkelman, an often-cited legal historian, has authored more than 100 articles and 20 books, including “His Soul Goes Marching on: Responses to John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid.”

There will be a question-and-answer period following Finkelman’s presentation.

At noon, an exhibit focusing on David Hunter Strother’s sketches of Brown’s Raid and the aftermath opens in the J. Hornor Davis Family Galleries on the sixth floor of the Wise Library. The 2009 West Virginia Day posters will be distributed at that time to all present.

Strother was one of the most outstanding primary resources in terms of eyewitness accounts. Arriving in Harpers Ferry within 36 hours of the raid, Strother saw Brown and some of his co-conspirators lying wounded on the floor of a makeshift jail, before they received medical attention.

Even before authorities had the chance to extensively question Brown, Strother talked with him about his failed plot. Strother also made many sketches of Brown and co-conspirators at that time and then later during Brown’s trial and execution.

“David Hunter Strother was a gifted writer and a gifted artist,” Cuthbert said. “If you wanted to find one person to document what happened there, I don’t think you could find a better person than Strother.”

All events are open to the public.

“These students did remarkable work. There is a tremendous amount of scholarship in these theses,” said Keith Garbutt, Dean of the Honors College. “This award recognizes and rewards it.”

Chelsea Derlan and Kelly Trimble are the first to be named Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars.

The WVU Libraries and the Honors College of WVU established the Robert F. Munn Undergraduate Library Scholars Award to honor Dr. Robert F. Munn, Dean of Library Services from 1957-1986.

The award goes to a graduating Honors student or students for outstanding research in the humanities or social sciences that is done in the WVU Libraries and results in an exceptional thesis. Writing a thesis is a graduation requirement for Honors students. Along with receiving a $1,000 award, the scholar’s name is added to a plaque in the Downtown Campus Library.

“I was really honored that everyone found my thesis worthy of the award,” Trimble said. “I’m very grateful.”

Along with a full schedule of classes, she spent the past academic year researching and writing her winning paper, titled “Women’s Conflict Journals: World War II through the Yugoslav Wars.”

“It wouldn’t have been possible to have done all the research without the Library,” she said.

Derlan said she was amazed and honored to learn that her research efforts were recognized. Her paper is titled “The Significance of Parenting Stress, Substance Abuse, Intimate Partner Violence, and Other Potential Risk Factors on Treatment Outcomes and Adherence for Child Maltreatment.”

She began preliminary work on her thesis upon entering the McNair Scholars Program, the summer after her sophomore year, and also spent a lot of time in the Library. Derlan believes being named a Munn Scholar will help her as she makes the transition into graduate school.

“It’s going to help me so much to be able to demonstrate that I can do research,” Derlan said. “Professors in graduate school don’t expect a lot of undergraduates to do research. So having this opportunity has been amazing.”

Trimble heads to the University of Michigan this fall to pursue a master’s in Russian and Eastern European studies and eventually sees herself as a professor. Derlan is still considering her graduate school options but wants to study in an urban area. Her goal is to be a professor and to focus on ethnic minority issues concerning children and families.

It was at a similar juncture in his life that Dr. Ken Martis, who spoke at the ceremony, met Munn. Martis shared his memories about meeting Munn when he came to WVU in 1976. Although Martis felt intimidated by the Library Dean at first, Munn encouraged him and provided valuable direction that aided Martis in publishing a book.

“I want you two to know how special Dr. Munn was,” Martis said. “He gave 30 years of his life to this Library and made it the beautiful institution that it is today.”

Arriving at WVU in 1952, Munn rose to head the library in 1957. Over the next three decades, he directed the expansion of the Library from a modest centralized facility into a campus-wide system of Libraries with holdings in excess of a million volumes.

Munn also had a profound impact on WVU as a whole. He served as provost under three presidents and as an advisor and confidant to several more. A scholar and author of numerous articles and several books relating to various topics including Appalachia and the coal industry, Munn was dedicated to promoting scholarship and literature especially regarding West Virginia subjects. As a vehicle to publish manuscripts of merit chiefly of state and regional interest, he founded the WVU Press in 1981.

Munn’s contributions were not limited to WVU. He had an international reputation in the field of librarianship, served on boards of several leading foundations, and assisted in the establishment of libraries in developing countries around the world.

Several alumni and current and former faculty who knew Munn have voiced their appreciation of the Libraries for establishing an award in Munn’s name.

“We now have an honor that is appropriate for someone who devoted his life to the University and to the Libraries,” said Myra Lowe, Associate Dean of Libraries.