Volume 35, Number 3

On the cover: Emilio Fernández Alvarez and family in Clarksburg, circa 1923, photographer unknown. Our stories about Spanish West Virginia begin on page 13.

Published by the
STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

Joe Manchin III, Governor

Kay Goodwin, Secretary
Department of Arts, Culture and History

Randall Reid-Smith, Commissioner
Department of Arts, Culture and History

John Lilly, Editor

Kim Johnson,
Editorial Assistant

Cornelia Crews Alexander
Circulation Manager

A.C. Designs
Publication Design

Fall 2009

2 Letters from Readers

5 Current Programs * Events * Publications

8 Parade of Progress

10 State Museum Reopens

Photoessay by Michael Keller

13 Spanish Mountaineers

14 Asturian West Virginia

By Luis Argeo

19 La Familia Fernández
Recalling a Spanish Family in Clarksburg

By Raymond Alvarez

24 The Spanish Picnic

By Raymond Alvarez

26 Sunday Dinner in Ritchie County

By Katherine Roberts

34 Circus!
Life Under the Big Top

By Mort Gamble

42 Mort Gamble’s Private Circus

Photoessay by Michael Keller

44 Hard Work and Music
Fiddler Elmer Rich

By Mark Crabtree

50 Elmer Rich and “Colored Aristocracy”

By Mike Seeger

52 “Bad Luck Hit Us Again”
Josie Walton’s Journal

By Betty Jo Giudice

58 The Big Burn of ‘52

By Robert Beanblossom

64 Confessions of a West Virginia Forest Ranger

By Robert Beanblossom

66 West Virginia Back Roads
Chain-Saw Art in Horner

By Carl E. Feather

68 2009 Films on West Virginia and Appalachia

By Steve Fesenmaier

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