The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace

Spring Newsletter is Here!

2011-05-03T20:41:00.000-04:00

Check it out here!

2011 Greenbrier Classic

2011-04-06T12:43:00.003-04:00

If you plan on attending this summer's Greenbrier Classic golf tournament, you can support the Pearl Buck Birthplace at the same time! We are a participant in the Badges for Charity program--if you designate us as a recipient while buying tickets, we receive a portion of the proceeds. So make sure to find us when ordering tickets online, or mention us if ordering by phone (1-888-814-1002)!

In other golf-related news, the Birthplace is holding a golf fundraiser at Pocahontas County Country Club on May 1. For more information, email info@pearlsbuckbirthplace.com.

Pearl Buck Meets Pearl Buck

2011-01-19T14:41:00.003-05:00

This news item is undated, but probably comes from Pearl Buck's 1970 tour of West Virginia, which raised funds for the construction of the Birthplace. Happy Wednesday!

All Men Are Brothers: Heritage Press Edition

2010-12-16T14:58:00.008-05:00

One of my favorite items at the Birthplace, hands down, is this collection of prints from the 1933 Heritage Press edition of the novel All Men Are Brothers. The book, written in the fourteenth century, is known in China as Shui Hu Chuan, and is considered a classic of Chinese literature. The book compiles the adventures of 108 bandits in twelfth-century Shantung province.

Pearl Buck was the first to translate the sprawling novel from Chinese into English. She completed the project over the course of five years; it was her first project published after the stunning success of The Good Earth in 1931. To celebrate the completion of her arduous undertaking, the Heritage Press commissioned the Mexican painter, Miguel Covarrubias, to visit China and study traditional poster art. The illustrations resulting from the trip were used in the book.

Covarrubias also illustrated editions of Typee and Uncle Tom's Cabin; I might be biased, but I think these illustrations are much more interesting!

Read on to see more of the scans.

For a bit more information on Covarrubias, check here.

Fall 2010 Newsletter

2010-12-01T17:18:00.006-05:00

To get the picture-filled version, download here.

Our annual New Moon Festival was a day of fun for the Hillsboro community! Although the weather was cold and rainy, a crowd of more than 50 came to watch Tears of Joy Theatre’s puppet show, Little One Inch.

Many of them stayed for home-cooked food, fresh-pressed apple cider, and a set by the Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys. Thanks to all who braved the elements to support us, and a special

thanks to all those who volunteered!

Overall, our season was successful. 1152 guests took a tour of the Birthplace, and many more stopped to take in the beautiful scenery of the Little Levels. 20 volunteers were kind enough to assist with our various events around the Birthplace. A special thanks to all of them! If you’d like to volunteer at the Birthplace, please contact VISTA Emily Lassiter at emilyleelassiter@googlemail.com. We could always use a helping hand!

Over the summer, the Birthplace participated in the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), which has provided us with direction in determining our repair priorities. Facilities and collections assessors both identified areas of concern, which have been added to our list of critical repairs; our total funding needs top $100,000. Once we raise $100,000 in construction funds, the USDA’s Rural Development division has kindly agreed to match 15%, or $15,000.

Since the museum closed last fall, we’ve raised $22,640 in funds for repairs. This includes:

· $5,000 from the Snowshoe Foundation for regravelling our driveway and walks

· $5,640 in state development grants to repair leaking windows

· $6,000 from state senator Walt Helmick, to match the state development grant

We are also happy to announce that the Snowshoe Foundation has given us $5,000 for repairs during their 2010 funding season. We’ll use this money to install a French drain system, which will ameliorate the moisture problems that have accumulated over the years, including mildew and spalling damage to the brick foundation. Thanks to the Snowshoe Foundation for helping us achieve our renovation goals!

We recently applied for $3,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to apply vinyl UV ray-blocking filters to the windows of the Stulting house; their decision will be announced in the spring.

The Birthplace’s manuscript appraisal project, which was funded by the West Virginia Humanities Council, recently concluded. Willis VanDevanter, an appraiser who has worked with the papers of such luminaries as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Margaret Mead, examined Pearl Buck’s manuscripts. The manuscripts are currently held at West Virginia Wesleyan University. We expect a final report from Mr. VanDevanter soon and excitedly await opportunities to share this invaluable resource with the scholarly world.

In other news, we will be holding a Christmas open house this weekend. Please join us on Saturday, December 4^th, from 1-4 pm. The Stulting home, birthplace of Pearl Buck, will be decorated for Christmas; volunteers will provide free tours. We’ll have refreshments, as well as Christmas crafts and gifts. We hope to see you there!

Over the winter months, if you’d like to contact us, please email info@pearlsbuckbirthplace.com.

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

2010-09-20T14:41:00.001-04:00

Join us for a celebration of Asian culture and harvest traditions!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

2:00 - 3:15

Journey to Japan: A Puppet Extravaganza!

Tears of Joy Theatre will bring their award-winning puppet show, “Little One Inch,” to the Birthplace! Based on a Japanese folktale, Issun Boushi, the play features Marlinton’s own Emily Newton.

Little One Inch, a miniature boy, proves his strength by defeating a rat and sets off to save Japan from a great ogre. His parents give him a rice bowl to use as a boat, and a chopstick to use as an oar. In his adventures he befriends a kappa, rides a koi through the rapids, and becomes the playmate of a princess before defeating the ogre in a hilarious battle. Performed in the traditional Japanese bunraku style of puppetry, this play will delight audience members of all ages.

3:15 – 4:00

Journey to Japan Workshops

Tears of Joy Theatre will hold three workshops on Japanese Culture, featuring:

Japanese Clothing Japanese Music Origami

Children and adults are invited to attend any of these events, where they will experience aspects of Japan’s ancient culture firsthand!

4:00 – 5:30

The Stulting and Sydenstricker homes will be open to the public for tours. Tears of Joy puppets will be roaming the grounds; there will also be a raffle, where one lucky person will win a puppet!

We’ll also have free cider pressing demonstrations and mooncakes! For those of you interested in local foods, we’ll be selling soup made from butternut squashes grown at the Birthplace, as well as our own grape jelly! Thai spring rolls will also be for sale.

5:30 – 6:30

Local music legend Richard Hefner will perform on the front lawn of the Birthplace! Pull up a hay bale, grab some apple cider, and join us!

Good News: Manuscript Grant, Birthday Celebration, etc.

2010-07-02T14:08:00.005-04:00

First, thanks to everyone who made the 2010 Pearl S. Buck Birthday Celebration a success!

As part of the Little Levels Heritage Fair, we created the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace's first-ever float for the Saturday parade. To our surprise, the float won second place in the float division, as well as the prize for Director's Choice!

Later in the afternoon came the birthday celebration, which featured instructors from the annual Pearl S. Buck Writer's Workshop. We were treated to a reading by Dr. Laura Bentley, writer-in-residence at Marshall University, who read selections from her 2006 collection of poetry, Lake Effect. Dr. Peter Conn, from the University of Pennsylvania, gave a lecture on Pearl Buck's relevancy today. Dr. Conn was an impressive public speaker, and the lecture was quite enjoyable. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend his biography, Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography. Since its publication in 1996, the book has become the most influential portrait of Pearl S. Buck, and provides a detailed and candid look at her life.

In other news, the manuscript grant that was submitted to the Hollowell Foundation in March was accepted! The grant money will go towards appraising our manuscripts, which were originally sold to the Birthplace by Pearl Buck for $1. They are currently housed at West Virginia Wesleyan University. We are excited about the grant, and hope that in the future, the manuscripts will become an integral part of the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace.

Lastly, another review of Hilary Spurling's Pearl in China: The Journey to the Good Earth will appear in this Sunday's (7/4) New York Times Book Review. The review has already been posted on their website and can be found here.

Hilary Spurling Review in the Times

2010-06-09T09:41:00.010-04:00

In today's New York Times is a review of Hilary Spurling's new biography, Pearl Buck in China: Journey to the Good Earth. The review also mentions Pearl Buck scholar Peter Conn, who will be the keynote speaker at our upcoming writer's fair and birthday celebration. Also on the New York Times website: an excerpt from Pearl Buck in China.

For any information about the writer's fair and Pearl S. Buck birthday celebration, you can call the Birthplace at (304)653-4430.

Garden Party!

2010-06-03T10:46:00.002-04:00

Monday, June 7th, the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace will host a planting party! Local VISTA Amelia Swenson has been planning an herb garden here at the Birthplace, and we’ll begin planting Monday.

Bring any herbs, flowers, or seeds you’d like to plant—right now, we have mint, chives, oregano, comfrey, elecampane, thyme, calendula, hollyhock, and dill. We might even plant an heirloom tomato or two!

Planting starts at 9 am, to be followed by cookies and lemonade. Don’t forget your trowel and gloves, and wear plenty of sunscreen!

Mini Grant Submission for Manuscript Appraisal

2009-12-08T09:41:00.002-05:00

In November members of the Pearl S. Buck Board of Directors and staff members worked on a mini grant with the West Virginia Humanities Council. This grant would cover costs associated with appraising the Pearl S. Buck Manuscript Collection that is being housed at West Virginia Wesleyan College. The collection was purchased by the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation in 1970 from Pearl S. Buck for the nominal fee of $1.00. Her wish was the collection could be used to help support the development of her mother's house as a center for education on those topics that are exemplified in her mother's philosophy of life.

This appraisal is the first step in making this great humanities learning resource available for the public. To insure the finest appraisal possible Willis VanDevanter has been asked to perform the assessment. Mr. VanDevanter is highly qualified to perform this appraisal and has appraised manuscripts including Martin Luther King Jr., Gen. Alfred Gruenther, Irving Berlin as well as many other notable individuals.

The grant was submitted December 1 and now the committee is anxiously awaiting a reply.

VISTA's At Pearl Buck

2009-12-08T09:23:00.002-05:00

In organizations like the The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Vista's play a vital role in developing new events, grant writing, program administration, along with a wide range of other responsibilities. Over the past year Stacie Gilmore has served as The Pearl Buck Birthplace Vista and has done an excellent job. She has been responsible for many ideas and projects in the public eye as well as behind the scenes. The Birthplace would not be where it is today without her assistance. Sadly, Stacie will be leaving us on December 11 to take a new assignment in the Marshall Islands.

With Stacie's absence the Board of Directors has already started the paper work to receive a new Vista for the 2010 year. The Board of Directors has been in contact with an individual that is very interested in working for the Birthplace in the coming year. We are currently waiting for all of the paper work to be processed so we can move closer to filling our Vista position.

Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Hires New Executive Director

2009-12-08T09:14:00.003-05:00

On November 13th The Board of Director's hired Timothy VanReenen to serve as the new Executive Director for the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace. Mr. VanReenen is a graduate of Virginia Tech where he received a Bachelors Degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics and a Master's Degree in Career and Technical Education.

Mr. VanReenen will be responsible for sphere heading fundraising efforts for repairs and new programs and events, serving as a liaison between the Board of Directors and the general public, and assisting with the daily operations of the Museum.

Article by Intelligencer Librarian Rayna Polsky

2009-11-05T10:42:00.002-05:00

Intelligencer writer Rayna Polsky recently shared a post on her visit to the Pearl Buck Birthplace. She lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and just happened upon the Birthplace while driving through. Bucks County is where Pearl lived out the later years of her life after returning from China. I posted a link to the article below. Also, to learn more about Pearl S. Buck International in Bucks County, PA, you can go here: http://www.psbi.org

THE ARTICLE:

"From the Archives: Serendipity Doo-Dah"
http://blogs.phillyburbs.com/news/intelligencer/from-the-archives-serendipity-doo-dah/

Favorite Photo from this Year's Programs

2009-11-02T12:44:00.001-05:00

October 2009 Newsletter

2009-10-22T13:56:00.004-04:00

Dear Community Members,

The October 4 Moon Festival was a great success. Thanks to all who attended and volunteered! I included some photos of the event below, and you can find more on the Pearl Buck House’s Facebook page. After the cider pressing, there were enough apples left over to offer them to the commuity for FREE. We left them in a pony cart at the parking lot of the Pearl Buck House. Get them while they last!

    In other news, the Board of Directors is steadily working toward its goal of raising $100,000 for critical repairs to the historic buildings. The Snowshoe Foundation generously donated the first $5,000, and discussions are underway with the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Division to provide 15%, or $15,000. Only $80,000 to go! ;). For more information or to get a copy of the list of needed repairs contact VISTA Stacie Gilmore at stacie.gilmore@gmail.com or (304) 653-4328.

    The weekend of October 10-11 the Birthplace Foundation held its annual membership meeting, with elections for president and vice-president. The board elected Visitors and Convention Bureau CEO Abbey Winthrow for president and Hillsboro resident Michael Condon for Treasurer.

    Board member and West Virigina Poet Kirk Judd reported on the Pearl Buck manuscripts stored in a locked room in the rare book section of the library at West Virginia Weslyan. The collection includes approximately 260 manuscripts, numbered, labeled and stored in protective portfolio boxes. There have been previous appraisals made but none recently, so the Board voted to look into having another completed. Judd also noted that there had interest expressed from US Senator Rockefeller’s office to have the collection, or portions of it, digitized for easier access for archival and research purposes. Members of the Board are following up on that possibility.

    The same weekend, Ms. Cara Seitchek, Foundation Relations Officer for the Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C., visited to complete a peer-review of the museum through the American Association of Museums’ (AAM) Museum Assessment Program (MAP). She toured the Birthplace Museum including the outer buildings and met with several board members. She has written up a confidential peer-review based on her visit, and the museum will soon receive a copy from AAM.

The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Museum, (304) 653-4430, offers guided tours May 1 to Nov. 1 from 9 am to 4:30 pm. Individual memberships are $10 and give you voting rights at the annual membership meeting and unlimited free tours of the house.

Visit the Pearl Buck House on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hillsboro-WV/The-Pearl-Buck-House/109980752939

Official Website:
http://www.pearlsbuckbirthplace.com

                                      Sincerely,

                                          Stacie Gilmore

                                       AmeriCorps VISTA
                                       Pearl Buck House
                                       (304) 653-4328
   stacie.gilmore@gmail.com

Snowshoe Foundation Gives $5,000 Toward Critical Repairs

2009-10-05T13:06:00.002-04:00

http://www.snowshoemtn.com

Above (right to left): Brian Ball, Snowshoe Foundation Board of Directors; Lucinda Tyler, Pearl Buck Birthplace Board of Directors; Stacie Gilmore, AmeriCorps VISTA

Community Open House to Celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival

2009-09-01T19:39:00.003-04:00

On Sunday October 4 from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Museum will host a free community open house to celebrate the Chinese Moon Festival. The Moon Festival, or Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrates the autumn harvest and corresponds with date of the full harvest moon. It is the second biggest holiday in China after the Lunar New Year. West Virginia writer and Pearl Buck scholar Edwina Pendarvis along with past Pearl Buck Birthplace director David Corcoran will be hosting the festival, which will focus both on local history and special cultural programming on China.

Planned activities include free guided tours of the house, martial arts demonstrations, tasting food from Chinese moon cakes to pumpkin bread, free cider samples form the museum's historic apple press, exhibits of Chinese artifacts, live music from local musicians, and more!

For more information contact Lucinda Tyler, Board Member, gtfarmwv@frontiernet.net, (304) 653-2097, or Stacie Gilmore, VISTA, stacie.gilmore@gmail.com, (304) 653-4328. The Pearl Buck Birthplace Museum, (304) 653-4430, offers guided tours May 1 to Nov. 1 from 9 am to 4:30 pm. The museum is located on U.S. 219, just north of Hillsboro, WV.

Board Becomes More Active, Amends Bylaws

2009-07-26T20:13:00.003-04:00

During the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation’s April ’09 meeting, Board Members agreed it was necessary to have more than two meetings a year (April & October). The next board meeting was set for July 26th. In the interim, smaller committees met to: (1) complete a Museum Assessment Program (MAP) to understand how the PSB House can improve its operations; and (2) update the By-Laws.

With a quorum the July 26th meeting changed the By-Laws to: (1) reduce the number of Board Members from 21 to 12; (2) have Board meetings once a month; and (3) reassess the membership criteria as currently set out in the By-Laws.

They also set forth a new mission statement for the Birthplace more consistent with Pearl Buck’s original aims: “To maintain the house and property of the birthplace of Pearl S. Buck and to foster her wish expressed in the book My Mother’s House that it should be a living ‘gateway to new thoughts and dreams and ways of life’ wherein art, music and education are valued and promoted.”

In addition the meeting produced several committees: membership/marketing, human resources, grants, and previously a nominating committee. The Board’s next meeting will be August 9th.

Also notable, the PSB House had a summer intern, Phi Nguyen, who conducted with great success art and cooking classes.

For more information contact Lucinda Tyler, Board Member gtfarmwv@frontiernet.net or (304) 653-2097 and /or Stacie Gilmore, VISTA stacie.gilmore@gmail.com or (304)653-4328. The PB House (304) 653-4430 offers guided tours May 1 to Nov. 1 from 9 am to 4:30 pm.

Vietnamese Student Directs Innovative Summer Program

2009-07-21T12:58:00.008-04:00

When Pearl S. Buck toured West Virginia in the 1970s raising money for the West Virginia Women’s Clubs to restore the family farmhouse in Hillsboro, she hoped the house would become “a gateway to new thoughts and dreams and ways of life.” To achieve that goal, the Pearl Buck Birthplace Museum this June and July hosted its first summer series on Asia.

For five weeks, Phi Nguyen, a math and arts major at Berea College from Hanoi, Vietnam, taught Asian arts and crafts to elementary school students at Hillsboro and Marlinton libraries. She also held adult cooking classes, manned tables at local festivals, presented at the Marlinton senior center, and assisted the Pocahontas County Arts Council.

Initially, organizers feared low participation after hearing that summer programs at the Hillsboro Library were lucky to attract two or three students. Upon seeing fourteen kids the first day, librarian Elwood Groves commented that it was the largest turnout he had seen since he started work there. Phi has been similarly impressed, commenting, “I was surprised how interested the students are in Asia.” The Pearl Buck Birthplace Foundation has been working to establish closer connections with a second Pearl Buck museum in Zhenjiang, China, to one day offer further opportunities for local students.

The Pearl Buck House offers guided tours May 1 to Nov. 1 from 9 am to 4:30 pm. Memberships are available for $5 through the Birthplace Foundation at info@pearlsbuckbirthplace.com or (304) 653-4430.

For more information, contact Stacie Gilmore – stacie.gilmore@gmail.com or 304-653-4328.

PHOTO: Berea College student and PSBB summer intern Phi Nguyen and VISTA Stacie Gilmore with students from Hillsboro, WV learning to make paper dragons. (left to right: Charles Hunter Wilfong, Lanty Rose, Phi Nguyen, Emily Henderson, Victoria Rose, Briar Wilfong, Stacie Gilmore)

Mission

2009-07-15T12:52:00.019-04:00

The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation, Inc., maintains the house and property of the Birthplace and works to foster Pearl's wish expressed in the book My Mother’s House that the place should become...

... a living "gateway to new thoughts and dreams and ways of life" wherein art, music and education are valued and promoted.

Pearl writes:

I hope it will live a new life, not for myself or for my family but for people. I would like it to belong to everyone who cares to go there. From that house there has come so much life that it ought never to die or fall into ruin. For my ancestors it provided shelter and home in a new land, a house where they lived their new lives with traditional dignity and ancient faith in the fine things of life, in beauty of art and music, in the value of education, in the necessity of integrity and goodness. For my mother it provided a home, living forever in her thought and memory, though she made dwelling places in a far country. For me it was a living heart in the country I knew was my own but which was strange to me until I returned to the house where I was born. For me that house was a gateway to America. May it live again, my mother's house, and may it prove for others, too, a gateway to new thoughts and dreams and ways of life! (Pearl S. Buck, My Mother's House, p. 30-31).

The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation engages in educational, business, tourist, and other enterprises as may be suitable and necessary to promote and finance these aims.

Writers' Workshop

2009-07-06T14:35:00.008-04:00

About the Birthplace

2009-07-01T15:39:00.003-04:00

Built around 1875, the three-story Dutch "city house" in Hillsboro, West Virginia was hand-constructed by a Dutch refugee family, the Stultings, escaping religious persecution in Holland. Famous writer Pearl S. Buck was born here in 1892 while her parents, Caroline Stulting and Absalom Sydenstricker, were on leave from missionary work in China. Today, you can take a guided tour or stroll through the surrounding fields. The carpentry shop and barn contain over 100 historic farm and woodworking tools, and the log home of Pearl’s father’s family, the Sydenstrickers, has been moved from Greenbrier County for a second museum and cultural center.

Guided tours are available May 1 - November 1, Monday to Saturday, 9 am - 4:30 pm.

The Annual Pearl S. Buck International Writers’ Workshop celebrates the life and works of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. Community members and aspiring authors learn about the art of writing from experts in the field through creative explorations of Pearl’s novels.

Hillsboro’s Little Levels Heritage Fair, the last weekend in June, showcases the history of the Little Levels region through arts and crafts, food, music, a parade, rodeo and youth horse events, and other activities.

History

Pearl S. Buck was the first American woman to win both the Pulitzer Prize (1932, for The Good Earth) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1938). A world-renowned author, she has written over 100 books and hundreds of short stories and magazine articles. Her books have been translated into 69 foreign languages.

Pearl's Vision

Pearl was heavily involved in the preservation and restoration of the house. In the book My Mother's House[1] she shared her vision for the museum:

"If it (the house) ever lives again, and God grant it may for my Mother's memory, I hope it will live a new life, not for myself or for my family but for people. I would like it to belong to everyone who cares to go there. From that home has come so much life - that it ought never to die or fall into ruin."

"For my ancestors, it provided shelter and home in a new land, a house where they lived their new lives with traditional dignity. . . For my mother, it provided a home, living forever in her thought and memory, though she made dwelling places in a far country. For me it is a living heart in the country I knew was my own but which was strange to me until I returned to the house where I was born. For me that house was a gateway to America. May it live again, my Mother's house, and may it prove for others, too, a gateway to new thoughts and dreams and ways of life."[2]

The Stulting House

Stulting family, Pearl Buck's maternal ancestors, moved from Utrecht, Holland, in 1847 with 300 of their friends and relatives so that they might practice their religion freely during a time of religious intolerance in Holland. The party consisted of Cornelius Stulting (called "Mynheer" in Pearl Buck's books), his wife Arnolda, and their five married sons and their families -- three generations.

Upon arrival in New York, the families and friends began to go their own ways. The Stultings moved to West Virginia, then a part of Virginia, and purchased land. After first settling in Dutch Bottom, they bought a small farmland of 16 acres, of which the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation now owns 13 1/2 acres. It is located in the area commonly referred to as "Little Levels," surrounding the town of Hillsboro in Pocahontas County.

Pearl S. Buck's great grandfather, Cornelius "Mynheer" Stulting, had a yearning to build a house like the one they had in Holland. His wife, Arnolda, was homesick, and he hoped that the new house would help her accept living in America more easily.

The Stulting men worked very hard and all supplies for building were taken from the land. They worked more than two years and the house was nearly completed when Cornelius "Mynheer" took a chill and became very ill. He died before seeing the house completed. The house was finally finished by Hermanus, Pearl Buck's grandfather, and his son, Cornelius John, with the knowledge and fine craftsmanship they had learned from their ancestors, and the family moved into the house: "There at the edge of the settlement they built it, a goodly, twelve room house of wood, with smooth floors and plastered and paper wall, a city house" (The Exile, 29-30).

Pearl Buck's mother, Caroline, often called "Carrie," was reared in this house. She married Absalom Sydenstricker, one of the nine children of Andrew and Frances Coffman Sydenstricker of Ronceverte, West Virginia. Shortly after their marriage, they left for China to become missionaries. "They were pioneer missionaries and worked in more than a dozen places in China. Sometimes no other white family lived in their town" (My Mother's House, 35).

The Sydenstrickers would visit the home frequently on their furloughs, which were usually every nine years, and it was during one of these visits that Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker was born in her grandfather's home on June 26, 1892.

Since her childhood was spent in China, Pearl's visits here enlarged her love for this American home, which her mother had instilled in her with endless stories.

The Stulting family enjoyed and taught music, practiced its fine craftsmanship, became school teachers, raised children, and shared joys and sorrows together in the house until 1922. Mr. George P. Edgar then bought the house and made it a winter home for his family until the early 1960s.

Then the home was purchased by Mr. Jim Comstock to preserve it for its historical value. After raising about $4,000 from the West Virginia Hillbilly newspaper readers, he asked the West Virginia Federation of Women's Clubs to take over the purchase. The purchase and restoration were made possible by the donations of clubwomen across the state.

The Stulting Barn

Although the Stulting family had not had any experience as farmers before coming to America, it managed to make a living on this small farm. The barn was restored with a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior for $23,000 and was completed in 1977. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The original barn had "grown" with additions, so that it had to be taken down and replaced with a small one like the original barn. Some of the original timbers were saved and used in this building, but it is made basically of new materials.

Today, this barn with its antique farm implements and equipment, with a hayloft, and a threshing floor, lacks only the farm animals to make it typical of the 1892 era.

The Sydenstricker House

This house was a gift to the Birthplace Foundation from two sisters, Mrs. Lucille Spencer, of Richwood, and Mrs. Leona Bonin, who lived in it before building a new home on the Sydenstricker farm.The house was moved from its original site and rebuilt in Hillsboro.

The Sydenstricker house was the birthplace of Pearl's father,Dr. Absalom Sydenstricker, Presbyterian missionary to China for his entire adult life. The original log section is a museum for Sydenstricker items and the period 1834-1880. The house was built in 1834 by Andrew Sydenstricker, who married Frances Coffman on January 16, 1834 and became the father of nine children, including Absalom. Five of Andrew's sons became ministers, four Presbyterian and one Methodist.

The Sydenstricker family was very prominent in Greenbrier County. Philip Sydenstricker, great-great-grandfather of Pearl S. Buck, came to America from Bavaria (Germany) -- first to Pennsylvania, then on to West Virginia ("Virginia" at the time) after the Revolutionary War, settling on a farm near Ronceverte, Greenbrier County, in what is known as the Fort Springs area. He arrived in America by ship on September 26, 1764.

The original two-story section of the house was built of logs, and later covered with siding to match the additional part of the house, which was added as the family grew. The siding was removed in the reconstruction of the house.

Reconstruction was begun with a $15,000 grant from the West Virginia Bicentennial Committee. The grant enabled the Birthplace Foundation to dismantle the house, transport the building materials to Hillsboro, and to put in the foundation. An additional $12,000 was invested in it from contributions for this purpose. A grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation of $25,000 has enabled it to be completed in 1892. The Pearl Buck Birthplace Foundation seeks donated items for this house, especially Sydenstricker memorabilia and furniture.

Pearl S. Buck Memorial Garden

The Birthplace farm is being developed into a Memorial Garden honoring Miss Buck. The project was started by Greenbrier District, West Virginia Garden Clubs, when a fruit orchard was restored with old-fashioned trees of the period. Also, grape vines and flowers were planted where the Stultings had originally planted them.

A few trees on the ground were originally planted by the Stultings, including a stately old Chinese mulberry tree which until recently stood in front of the house by the right. It had been brought as a seedling from China by Pearl Buck's missionary parents. Several other mulberry trees can still be seen on the property.

In The Exile, Pearl Buck wrote about her memory of the maple tree in front of the house: "There was an enormous old sugar maple to the left and there was a stile under it. Here many a time [Carrie] led her horse to mount it."

It was this same maple tree that Pearl Buck fondly referred to during a visit to her birthplace. She gazed beneath the tree and softly said, "I would like to be buried underneath that tree." But she qualified this by saying her children would make the final choice.[3]

Manuscripts

Pearl Buck gave her valuable manuscript collection to the Birthplace Foundation in 1970. The collection (minus The Good Earth, which was missing at the time) was acquired in 1974 and is presently stored at West Virginia Wesleyan College, under a special arrangement made with Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV, and President of the College. The manuscripts will remain there until suitable housing is built at the Birthplace. They are available to researchers with permission from the foundation.

1. My Mother's House by Pearl S. Buck, Appalachian Press, Richwood W. Va., 1965.
2. Excerpts from Clifford M. Lewis, West Virginia Antiquities Commission, "National Register of Historic Places -- Inventory Nomination Form," United States Department of the Interior: National Park Service, accessed at http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/pocahontas/70000663.pdf, page 4.
3. From the Archives of the Pearl Buck Birthplace Museum, http://www.pearlsbuckbirthplace.com

Taking Comfort in Small Joys

2009-06-18T12:32:00.013-04:00

Atlantic correspondent Christina Davidson recently highlighted the Pearl Buck Museum in her series Recession Road Trip:

"I knew driving north on US 219 would take me through some of the most lush and pristine wilderness that can be found anywhere in the country. What I did not realize was that the route would pass by the birthplace of Pearl Buck. Since I brought The Good Earth in my traveling library, it seemed fated that I stop for a visit.

Marietta Stemple and Betty Morrison, two lifetime residents of the area, tag-teamed my tour of the house, perfectly restored to its original 1847 glory. They described how Buck's Dutch grandfather had chopped down the trees to make the planks and beams of the solid wood and brick structure, where her mother had grown up and Pearl had been born before her parents moved to China. . . ."

Full Article: "Taking Comfort in Small Joys"

Writers Pay Tribute to Pearl S. Buck

2009-06-15T15:37:00.002-04:00

HILLSBORO, W.Va.--Some of West Virginia's most well-known writers are expected to gather in Hillsboro June 25-27 to celebrate the life of Pearl S. Buck and offer workshops on writing.

. . .

Ruth Taylor, chairwoman of the workshop, said "West Virginia was Pearl's birthplace and many of her books, even those she wrote while in China, make mention of places in Pocahontas County. Her writings and humanitarian spirit still have a profound effect on authors and storytellers all over the world."

To read the full story go to: http://www.dailymail.com/Entertainment/200906110612

Summer Series on Asia for Elementary School Students

2009-05-20T20:46:00.005-04:00

"A Trip Through Asia"

Phi Nguyen, an art and math major at Berea College, from Hanoi, Vietnam, will host a summer reading and arts program on Tuesdays at the Hillsboro Library and Wednesdays at McClintic Library in Marlinton. Each week will focus on a different country, including China, Japan, S. Korea, India, and Vietnam.

Expect snacks, crafts, stories, and games. All activities are FREE and open to the public. The program is directed at students in elementary school. Contact VISTA Stacie Gilmore at (304) 653-4328 or stacie.gilmore[at]gmail.com to participate. Sign-up lists are also available at the Marlinton and Hillsboro libraries.

Hillsboro Library: Tuesdays, 10 am-12 noon, June 23 - July 21
Marlinton Library: Wednesdays, 12:30 - 2:30 pm, June 24 - July 22 (right after Energy Express)

Event Flier:
http://www.geocities.com/rivendell400/FSH.pdf

Asian Cooking Classes at the Pearl Buck House

2009-05-20T19:48:00.004-04:00

6:30 - 8:00 pm
Mondays, June 22 - July 20, at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace in Hillsboro

Summer intern Phi Nguyen, from Hanoi, Vietnam, will be instructing us in the preparation of Asian dishes. Each week will focus on a different country, including China, Japan, S. Korea, India, and Vietnam. Cost to participate is for the full five classes. All ages welcome. Contact VISTA Stacie Gilmore at (304) 653-4328 or stacie.gilmore[at]gmail.com for more information and to register. Sign-up lists are also posted at the Hillsboro and McClintic libraries.

Event Flier:
http://www.geocities.com/rivendell400/FCH.pdf

Inspired to Greener Living by The Good Earth

2009-04-22T11:13:00.004-04:00

From: "Contain Yourself by Growing Your Own Produce" by Lisa Shames, Chicago Sun Times

"[Brad] Moldofsky, a free-lance technical writer in Skokie who credits Pearl Buck's The Good Earth and the writings of Michael Pollan for his newfound green thumb, has been chronicling his successes -- and failures -- as an amateur gardener on the Local Beet Chicago's Web site, www.thelocalbeet.com."

Check out Moldofsky's Blog on the Local Beet: "The Backyard Farmer"

Become a Pearl S. Buck Teaching Ambassador

2009-04-09T09:54:00.000-04:00

Pearl S. Buck International (PSBI, http://www.psbi.org) has an ongoing exchange with the Zhenjiang Pearl S. Buck Research Association (http://www.pearlsbcn.org) to recruit people with university degrees to teach English in Zhenjiang, China.

Teacher ambassadors have the option of going to China for 6 months or 1 year. Year-long teachers receive roundtrip airfare from China. Six-month placements receive one way airfare to China. There's a monthly stipend and medical insurance coverage as well as housing.

Please visit PSBI's website for MORE DETAILS.

Daffodil Party, May 9

2009-04-08T15:17:00.007-04:00

The party at Mackey Park in Maxwelton, WV will begin at 10:00 AM and continue until 4:00 PM.

By Marc Ryckaert, Wikimedia

Mackey Park is across from the Clifton Presbyterian Church in Maxwelton, WV.

Pick your own Daffodils at $1.00 per bloom, proceeds to help fund the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation. Light refreshments are planned and efforts are being made to have live music.

Come out and join us for this beautiful day of flowers, friends and fun music. For more info about the Daffodil Party contact Davis Musser at 304-497-2833.

Pearl S. Buck International Writers' Workshop, June 25-7

2009-04-08T15:10:00.002-04:00

"Pearl S. Buck ~ The Patchwork of Her Life"
Sponsored by Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation
and Little Levels Heritage Fair
Hillsboro, West Virginia
June 25-27, 2009

View Workshop Schedule
Join West Virginia writers Edwina Pendarvis, Christina St. Clair, Belinda Anderson, Cat Pleska and Pam Pritt as well as West Virginia’s most famous "Liar", Bill Lepp, for the Second Annual Pearl S. Buck International Writers’ Workshop on the grounds of the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace and "Cliffside," the restored home of Dr. Wallace who delivered Pearl. Events will begin with Registration and Meet and Greet Session on Thursday at noon. Participants will tour Pearl S. Buck’s Birthplace before beginning the workshop.

Pam Pritt, Editor of the weekly Pocahontas Times will conduct the first session on "Writing your story, how to get published, legal issues, editing, etc." Dinner will be served by the ladies who support Pearl S. Buck Birthplace. The evening speaker is Cat Pleska, essayist for WV Public Radio and a freelance writer, editor and teacher.

Friday morning brings Belinda Anderson, author of three short story collections. Belinda’s session will connect the "stitches" in the patchwork of Pearl’s writing that relate to her roots in West Virginia. Keynote speaker, Dr. Edwina "Eddy" Pendarvis and co-author Christina St. Clair will connect the Patchwork of Pearl’s Life and Works on the International/China level. The final presentation will be open to the public. Bill Lepp will teach us how to spin a yarn, tell a lie and entertain.

Participants will attend an old fashioned barbeque with music in the evening and have free time to attend the final concert of Allegheny Echoes at the Pocahontas County Opera House.

Saturday is open to enjoy the Little Levels Heritage Fair. The Pearl S. Buck Birthday Celebration and Writers' Fair will kick off at 4 pm Saturday afternoon. Pocahontas Music students will present "Links In The Chain - Our Appalachian Musical Heritage,’ Eddy Pendarvis and Christina St. Clair will assist in presenting student writer awards and summary of the Writer’s Workshop. Bill Lepp will spin a great big yarn (lie) about life in the Little Levels. Birthday cake and punch for all will conclude the program. The final dinner is a Chicken Barbeque sponsored by Marvin Chapel United Methodist Church.

One scholarship to the Writers’ Workshop will be awarded to a WV High School or College Student who submits the best original story (500 words or less) about the influence of Pearl S. Buck, The Patchwork of Her Life and Works. Entries must be submitted no later than May 1, 2009.

Participant cost for the workshop is $75.00 and covers all meals, entertainment and tours. The workshop is designed for approximately 20 participants, so register early. Contact Ruth Taylor, Director at littlelevelsheritagefair@yahoo.com or call 304-653-8563 for additional information and to register for the workshop. Make checks payable to Little Levels Heritage Fair and mail to HC 64 Box 423, Hillsboro, WV 24946.

Lodging will be on your own this year. Contact Pocahontas County Convention and Visitors Bureau at pocahontascountywv.com or call 800-336-7009 or 304-799-INF0 for lodging information.

Study or Teach Abroad in China

2009-04-08T11:53:00.015-04:00

A list of resources on China Exchanges for K-12 Teachers, High School Students, and for teaching abroad. To see the page, click HERE.

Nanjing Road, Shanghai, China.
By Agnieszka Bojczukt, Wikimedia

Mt. Kongur, Xinjiang, China.
By Colegota, Wikimedia

Pocahontas Music ♫ Concert, May 8

2009-04-08T11:27:00.005-04:00

Pocahontas Music was founded in February 2007 by volunteer Lucinda Tyler along with assistance from volunteer teacher Lois Airgood. The purpose of the workshop is to teach underserved elementary school students about their Appalachian roots, both lyrically and musically.

They were recently awarded a grant from the West Virginia Humanities Council, with matching funds from other local councils, for a four-month music workshop to instruct Hillsboro Elementary's 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders about the "Origins of Appalachian Music" through song/verse, guitar and collaboration. Three West Virginian Honorarians are involved in the workshop: singer/songwriter Kate Long; award-winning flat-picking guitar player Robin Kessinger; and poet Kirk Judd.

Their hard work will culminate with a demonstration on the Great Lawn at Pearl Buck's Birthplace to share what they have learned from their workshop of music, lyrics, prose, and collaboration. They will be accompanied by Honorarias Long, Kessinger and Judd as well as local musicians who participated in the workshop.

Concert Details
Date: May 8, 2009
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Great Lawn of the Pearl Buck Birthplace
The museum is located just north of the town of Hillsboro, on US Route 219

"Old Partner", A Korean Documentary by Lee Chung-ryul Inspired by Pearl Buck

2009-04-08T10:56:00.000-04:00

Excerpt from: John Glionna. "To a South Korean Farmer, this Cow was Sacred." Los Angeles Times, Mar 27, 2009. http://www.latimes.com.

"[Director Lee Chung-ryul] wanted to make a documentary about the beauty of simple things. To tell the story, he chose a farmer who preferred his devoted old cow over any modern tractor.

He was inspired by his own rural childhood and the novelist Pearl S. Buck, who nearly a century ago wrote of a farmer and cow she saw on a trip to Korea.

'She said it was the most beautiful scene she had ever witnessed,' says Lee, 42, a small man with a Beatles-style mop of hair. 'Now the cow's status has changed. They're no longer family members but seen as pieces of meat.'

For five years, he searched for the right relationship between man and beast. In 2002, he was introduced to Choi, who recently had been informed that his female ox's days were numbered. She had already lived far longer than most.

The pair's similarities astounded him: Nearly deaf with a malformed leg, the limping farmer was often forced to crawl across his rice fields. The staggering brown cow, which is never given a name, was no better off. Choi often groomed the skinny animal's diseased hide and fed her special gruel to keep her strength up.

For Lee, the pair seemed to have a secret pact: Keep working together or we'll both die.

In 2005, he began shooting what he saw as an intimate chronicle of the cow's final year."

Trailer:

Reflections from Women's History Month 2009

2009-04-08T10:10:00.001-04:00

Chiefland Citizen News

"Pearl Buck (1892-1973), author of nearly 100 works, is often overlooked in university courses and women’s studies programs even though she was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. She has the unusual ability to bridge cultures, both East and West. The daughter of Christian missionaries, Buck grew up in China before making her home in the United States. She’s a favorite of mine and I collect her work. Occasionally I can be spotted digging through stacks in used bookstores in search of the remaining few I lack.

Buck is best known for The Good Earth - perhaps because it was made into a movie. If you haven’t read her before, skip it. Many of her novels such as Imperial Woman chronicle the history of China. I recommend Pavilion of Women which tells the story of a faithful wife who decides to retire from her marriage at the age of 40, give her husband a concubine and devote herself to study books forbidden to women.

Buck’s dual(ing) biographies of her parents - Fighting Angel about her father’s evangelical work to convert the Chinese to Christianity and The Exile about her mother’s struggle to maintain a home for her children, render medical care for those around her, and find spirituality in quotidian life - are must reads for anyone who has tried to understand parents.

In God’s Men, Buck writes of two men who want to change the world, one who wants to feed it food, and one who wants to feed it news. This book explores the competing desires of body, mind and soul as well as the judicious or manipulative use of power."

From: Warren Parkin. "Explore Women Authors for Women's History Month." Chiefland Citizen News, Mar 25, 2009. http://www.chieflandcitizen.com/ (accessed Apr 8, 2009).

U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-WV

"The women of West Virginia have played important roles not only in the history of our beloved state, but also in the history of our great nation. Therefore, with March being celebrated as “Women’s History Month,” I want to acknowledge some great West Virginia women and their contributions. . ." For more go to: "BYRD'S EYE VIEW: WV Women Make History", Huntington News, http://www.huntingtonnews.net.