Upper Ohio Valley Historical Review Vol. 41, No. 2 - Pandemic Issue - Now Available

Digital Copy Available Now:
http://tiny.cc/UOVHR_Pandemic-Issue

With this unexpected and unwanted special edition, the Ohio County Public Library officially begins its tenure as caretaker of an important regional historical legacy, the Upper Ohio Valley Historical Review. COVID-19 is affecting all of our lives. As of the printing of this issue, the Library’s doors have been closed for six weeks with no plans to reopen in the foreseeable future.

While we did not foresee nor desire preempting the planned next edition that was to feature a celebration of Wheeling's history in 250 objects, we feel a special responsibility to pause to examine current events — bound themselves to be heavily scrutinized by historians of the future — through the lens of the Upper Ohio Valley's behavior, and the consequences thereof, in the face of similar crises throughout our history.

From the ravages of myriad pathogens during the frontier and Civil War eras, to the relentless scourge of tuberculosis, to the various cholera and typhoid outbreaks related to unsanitary conditions during our region’s period of rapid industrial and population growth, to the devastating (and eerily similar to the current emergency) Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, to twentieth-century polio outbreaks, Wheeling and its neighboring communities have been forced to deal with the scourge of infectious diseases throughout time. And, of course, often in spite of ourselves, we have managed to survive.

Exploring how we have done so, both the good and the bad, informs the present and, ultimately, gives us hope.

The NEW Vol 41, No. 2 - Spring 2020 - Special Pandemic Issue includes:

- Wheeling in the Time of Cholera by Dr. Hal Gorby
- Unselfish Zeal: Wheeling's 1864 Sanitary Fair by Jon-Erik Gilot
- Dent vs. State of West Virginia: How Wheeling Changed the Medical Profession by Dr. William Neal
- 800 Graves: The Schmulbach Mansion & TB Sanitarium at Roney’s Point by Ryan Stanton
- Breaking the Grippe: Wheeling During the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic by Sean Duffy and Erin Rothenbuehler
- Wheeling in the Time of COVID-19: A Photo Essay by UOVHR Staff

OCPL provides a digital online copy of the current UOVHR for free (.pdf file - 9.75 MB).

If you're familiar with the Upper Ohio Valley Historical Review, you may notice that this issue has a new look. This is the first edition completely produced by OCPL. We'd like to know what you think about the content and the layout. Let us know what you think by sending comments or feedback to [email protected]. 

Want a Print Copy? 

Printed commemorative paper copies are currently being printed and will be available starting next week. Individual copies are $5.00 each (cost) plus $1 shipping ($6 total). Click here to pre-order (helps us determine how many copies to have printed).

If you'd like a copy sent your home address, please send a check to:

UOVHR
c/o Ohio County Public Library
52 16th Street
Wheeling, WV 26003

Please make all checks or money orders out to “Ohio County Public Library” with memo note of “UOVHR.”

If you've already sent your check to the Library, your copy is currently in production and we will ship it to you when it is ready.  *NOTE: Subscriptions that had been paid to Wheeling Heritage will be honored through the end of the payment schedule. 

Looking for back issues of the UOVHR?

We're working on digitizing all of the previously published UOVHR in a format that makes the text searchable while still keeping file sizes small. We currently have years 1968-1980 digitized.

- Visit our "Document Center" and click on the "Upper Ohio Valley Historical Review" folder to access these pdfs.