Preserving the stories that built our community.
Wherever your country road started, it took you home to West Virginia.
West Virginia Immigrant Voices Project
The West Virginia Immigrant Voices Project is a community-driven oral history initiative dedicated to documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories, histories, and lived experiences of immigrants in Morgantown and North-Central West Virginia. Through recorded interviews, written narratives, and multimedia storytelling, we aim to build a publicly accessible archive that contributes to a more complete and honest account of who we are and where we came from.
West Virginia was built by people who came from somewhere else. Polish and Italian miners who went down into the same shafts as their neighbors. Syrian merchants who set up shop on Main Street. Families from a dozen countries who planted gardens, built churches, buried their dead, and raised children who became West Virginians — as rooted in this state as anyone.
Their stories are part of our story. But most of those voices have never been recorded. The West Virginia Immigrant Voices Project exists to change that — to sit down with real people, listen to what they lived through, and make sure those accounts don't disappear.
We work in partnership with the Morgantown Immigrant Support Coalition and West Virginia University. Our interviews are personal and conducted on the narrator's own terms — people decide what they share and how it's used. The archive is built to last and open to anyone who wants to learn more about the people who helped shape this state.
This is not a political project. It is a history project. And history is only as good as the stories we're willing to hear.
In-depth audio and video oral history interviews with immigrants and their families across North-Central West Virginia — in their own words, in their own time.
A permanent, publicly accessible digital archive — carefully maintained and built to be available to families, researchers, and communities for generations.
Multimedia stories, community events, and educational materials that bring these accounts to schools, libraries, and living rooms across the state.
Every life lived here deserves an honest reckoning. These stories belong to the people who lived them — and to West Virginia's history.
Have photos, documents, recordings, or writings that tell your story — or your family's story? We want to receive them. Upload directly to our shared archive and your materials will be preserved as part of the permanent record.
Upload to the ArchiveOpens in Google Drive · All file types welcome · Questions? Email us below
We are actively collecting stories from immigrants and their families living across West Virginia. Every life is different. Every journey matters. Yours does too.
Get in TouchOur first recorded stories will be published in the coming months. Sign up to be notified when the archive opens and to learn how to contribute your own.
Stay UpdatedThe most important thing we do is show up and listen. If you speak more than one language, know your neighbors, or simply want to help — we need you on this team.
Learn MoreThe full story archive is in active development. Contact us to learn how to contribute yours.
If you came to West Virginia from somewhere else — or your parents or grandparents did — we'd like to sit down and hear your story. You decide what gets recorded and how it's used.
We need interviewers, translators, transcribers, and people who know their communities well. No special background required — just the time and willingness to show up.
We welcome partnerships with churches, community groups, schools, libraries, and local businesses who want to help find and preserve the stories in their midst.
This project runs on community support. If you can contribute financially or help connect us with funding, we'd be grateful to hear from you.
Whether you want to share your story, volunteer, explore a partnership, or just find out more — reach out. This project exists because of the people in it, and there's always room for one more.
You can also reach us directly at:
[email protected]A project of West Virginia University, in partnership with the Morgantown Immigrant Support Coalition.