Photograph by Jim Talkington
The Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library’s (CHPL) downtown Story Center has transformed into a living archive of Appalachian history, migration, and community. Through December 30, new exhibition Urban Appalachian Kith and Kin invites visitors to explore the stories and history of the Appalachian community residing in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
Hosted in partnership with the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition (UACC)—an organization dedicated to the wellbeing, cultural expression, and advocacy for Appalachian people in Greater Cincinnati—the exhibition celebrates the legacy of Appalachians who migrated to Cincinnati during the mid-20th century and the generations who followed. Appalachia is a region in the eastern U.S. along the Appalachian Mountains that spans 13 states. A great migration beginning in the 1940s pushed many Appalachians out of the region following a decline in the coal mining and timber industries, who sought higher-paying jobs in urban environments such as Cincinnati.
At the exhibition, visitors can view photographs, oral history, and interactive storytelling that captures both past and present voices of Appalachian migrants.
“We want to be a source of information about Urban Appalachian people and culture in the Greater Cincinnati area, [we want to] be an advocate for our communities and for people here,” says Pauletta Hansel, project director of Kith and Kin and Cincinnati’s poet laureate emeritus.
One of the focal points of the exhibition is Perceptions of Home, a traveling photo-text exhibit first developed in 1996 by the UACC (then known as the Urban Appalachian Council). The exhibit features a variety of black and white portraits from Appalachian photographer Malcolm Wilson and interviews by local writer Don Corathers, telling the story of 22 individuals and families who made Cincinnati home during the great migration.
“It really does show a wonderful cross section of that piece of history, that piece of Appalachian migration,” says Hansel. Many of the original subjects, including notable community member Katie Laur who hosted a WNKU radio show for 27 years, have since passed away. “To be able to have their photographs and their voice and their story be part of this ongoing archive is a really special part of the work.”
Photograph by Malcolm J. Wilson
CHPL digitized the portraits included in Perceptions of Home and partnered with UACC to create more interactive technology-based displays, allowing people to view the photographs and stories of notable Urban Appalachians even while they are in storage.
In addition to Wilson’s portraits, the Story Center will feature six interactive digital display boards connecting more than 100 interviews and photographs taken by the UACC since 2020.
Beyond preserving the past, Kith and Kin amplifies the voices of today’s urban Appalachians. One audio story Hansel highlights is that of a young father, Matt Farley, reflecting on his Appalachian roots. “He talks about how he had not really thought about himself as Appalachian until he began [as an adult] really exploring his own history and his own values,” she says. “He realized that his family story was so similar to other family stories [of Appalachians].”
For Hansel, Kith and Kin is as much about looking forward as it is about looking back. The stories that fill the exhibit serve as a reminder to Cincinnatians that the city’s Appalachian roots continue to shape its people. “We are both kin, people connected by family, and kith, people connected by friendship,” she says. “That’s who we are as a community now in Greater Cincinnati.”
In addition to Urban Appalachian Kith and Kin, UACC will host an open house on November 9 to invite guests to come and share their own Appalachian stories, and an open mic on December 3 to celebrate music and poetry from the organization’s Place Keepers program.
“Urban Appalachian Kith and Kin” will run through December 30 in the Huenefeld Story Center on the second floor of the downtown branch of the Cincinnati Hamilton County Public Library. The exhibition is free for public viewing.
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