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Current Exhibit

Core Selections: Highlights of the Oil and Gas Industry from West Virginia Museums

In some pockets of West Virginia, the oil and gas industry has altered landscapes, lives, and communities with as much impact—but not as much attention—as coal. Thankfully, some museums and history organizations collect items that help reveal how petroleum extraction in the Mountain State has affected people, for better or worse, living near oilfield boom towns, working in petrochemical plants, or otherwise feeling the influences of this industry.

Partial view of exhibit wall, a frame on the wall says Core Sample a cylindrical piece of rock drilled from a well and used to study the properties of a subsurface geologic formation to determine its potential for oil and gas production

A selection of these artifacts and archives, representing several museum collections throughout the state, are displayed in Core Selections. Both original items and reproduction pieces from the West Virginia State Archives, the West Virginia and Regional History Center, the Parkersburg Oil and Gas Museum, the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, and the Watts Museum are featured in the exhibit.

Through the layers of rust, soil, and oils that have gathered on their surfaces over time, we can extract core pieces of West Virginia’s history from the stories these objects convey.