The West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State University collects and preserves material culture from Appalachia — quilts, baskets, tools, oral histories, music recordings, and artefacts from the coal mining era that shaped the region. The centre is a serious research institution as well as a public museum, and the collection includes material from the colonial period through to the 20th century.
For visitors interested in the deep cultural history of the region — including the Italian, Scots-Irish, and African American communities that made up the coal-mining workforce — the centre provides context that is otherwise hard to find. Located on the Fairmont State University campus; open during academic term hours and by appointment.