Use Conditions

Rights assessment is the responsibility of the researchers. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Access Restrictions

Audio is restricted pending processing. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Stokesville and North River Gap Oral Histories, 1996-1997, SdArch 35, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University.

Acquisition Information

Materials were transferred by Dr. Clarence Geier on September 11, 2017.

Biographical / Historical

The collection is comprised of research materials created by Kay Veith, Kathryn Monger and C. Thomas Chapman, James Madison University students who took courses taught by Dr. Clarence Geier, professor of Anthropology. Their research contributed to the book, "North River Gap – Stokesville, Augusta County, Virginia: A Selected Genealogy and Oral History of Residents," authored by Kay Veith, with contributions by Carole Nation and Clarence Geier, published in 1996. The project was a joint venture between members of the JMU history and anthropology departments, and the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests of Roanoke. Photograph scans were made from photographs belonging to individuals that participated in field survey.

Dr. Clarence Geier is a professor emeritus of Anthropology at James Madison University, where one of his primary research areas was the archeology of the American Civil War, specifically in the Shenandoah Valley. Kay Veith, who conducted many of the oral histories in this collection, was a student at JMU in the mid-1990s. Veith was a member of the Massanutten Chapter of the Archeological Society of Virginia, where she served as Secretary and chief organizer. Veith conducted fieldwork on many projects, including the Shenandoah National Park Archaeological Survey Program in the early 2000s. James Madison University established the Kay Veith Field Archeology Award to support young archeologists. Kathryn Monger undertook the geneology project on Reba Sirk Floyd.

Scope and Content

The Stokesville and North River Gap Oral Histories, 1996-1997, is comprised of audiorecordings and research files from the professional papers of Dr. Clarence Geier, a professor emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology at James Madison University. Materials include recordings, scanned photographs and other documents gathered from oral histories conducted with people in the Stokesville, and North River Gap area in August County. Narrators in the recordings discuss various topics, including the practice of tanbarking, the flood of 1949 in Stokesville, buildings in Stokesville, the Mt. Solon CCC camp, and personal family histories. The collection also contains genealogical studies of the North River Gap area.

Family names represented in the collection include Maichel, Sheffer (Scheffer, Shaver), Hise, Cramer, Loyd, Floyd, Todd, Daggy, Wilfong, Sirk, Karicofe, among others.

Arrangement

The interviews are arranged alphabetically by last name, and further arranged chronologically.

Related Material

"North River Gap – Stokesville, Augusta County, Virginia: a selected geneology and oral history of residents" Kay Veith; with contributions by Carole Nash and Clarence R. Geier. James Madison University, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, 1999.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Augusta County (Va.) -- History
• Buildings -- Virginia -- Augusta County
• Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.). Camp Mt. Solon -- History
• Cramer family
• Floyd family
• Geier, Clarence R., 1944-
• Heiss family
• Lloyd family
• Lumber trade -- Virginia -- Augusta County -- History
• Michael family
• Mountain life -- Virginia -- Augusta County -- History
• Mountain people -- Virginia -- Augusta County -- Social life and customs
• Shaffer family
• Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History
• Tanneries -- Virginia -- Augusta County -- History
• Todd family
• Wilfong family
• oral histories (literary works)