This website is dedicated to the cataloging, archiving, and discussion of the artifacts that remain of West Virginia’s history. As Tyler Childers said, “a long, violent history.” Scrip—the token monetary system used to pay lumbermen and miners—was one of the main catalysts to the Coal Wars in these hills. On the other side, you will find bottles—vessels of what once offered laborers and miners and their families reprieve in a difficult life. Finally, in honor of my own half-heritage, you will find another struggle archived here: that of the Filipinos who struggled against constant colonialization by the Spanish, Americans, and Japanese.

Why am I doing this? The short answer is that I love it. I love to photograph objects in the highest quality I can, as not everyone will have a chance to hold these objects. I want you to be able to see the life that it lived through scuffs, scrapes, and dings. This isn’t a traditional “catalog” website in that way, as hutchbook and tokencatalog might be. While that information is here certainly, it is not in the limelight. I am trying to make the history of these pieces more accessible and, perhaps a bit selfishly, have somewhere to direct someone toward if they ask me about the history of an item.

I am constantly taking pictures of items and researching, so if you have an item that is not on here, it may be soon and I am likely aware of it. If you have something that is unlisted in any other catalogs (e.g., tokencatalog, hutchbook, any of my books), then please email me with images of them. Thank you kindly.