Projects Showcase
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Mapping LGBTQ+ History in Watauga County
Although Watauga County, like the rest of Southern Appalachia, has been historically stereotyped as heteronormative and homophobic, LGBTQ+ individuals exist here. This project highlights important places to local LGBTQ+ history and those who bettered their communities by educating, supporting, and being themselves. We combine mapping, archival material, and historical research to illuminate the history and culture of Watauga county's LGBTQ+ communities. -
Garden Creek Virtual Exhibit
Created by Cameron Blumhardt for an undergraduate departmental honors thesis project, the Garden Creek virtual exhibit explores novel approaches for creating and curating virtual museums specifically for small-scale archaeological excavations. -
Matanya Ophee Collection
Guitarist, publisher, and pilot Matanya Ophee (1932-2017) amassed one of the largest collections of 19th-century guitar music in the world. In May of 2021, Appalachian State University acquired the Ophee Collection through J & J Lubrano Music Antiquarians. Highlights include over five hundred first and early editions of major guitar composers including Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Matteo Carcassi, Ferdinando Carulli, and many others, as well as the only complete manuscript of the Dix Etudes by Giulio Regondi, discovered by Ophee in 1987. The collection also includes the personal scores and papers of Argentinian guitarist Doming Prat (1886–1944), as well as a large amount of rare music for the Russian 7-string guitar from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.