PSBBF Newsletter

The Board of the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation has just released its newsletter with a message to Friends of PSBBF that reads, in part:

We are excited about activities and accomplishments of the past two years, and for the amazing opportunities at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace that await us in the future.  The attached newsletter details those accomplishments and opportunities.

As you will see, the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation Board of Directors has begun a renewed commitment to the Birthplace and we would like for you to be included in our transformation.  Our new individual membership levels have something for everyone.  To become a member or to support the Foundation, simply fill out the membership/donation form and return it with your dues and/or donation.

Historic partnership brings priceless Pearl S. Buck collection to WVU

The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation has formed a partnership with West Virginia University and West Virginia Wesleyan Collegeto preserve the manuscripts and papers left to the Birthplace by the author, and to disseminate her legacy. As part of that agreement, a priceless collection of literary manuscripts by Buck will be housed at the WVU Libraries.

Watch the video below, produced by WVU, to find out more.

New Pearl S. Buck Novel to be Available in the Fall

According to the New York Times, a recently discovered novel by Pearl S. Buck, The Eternal Wonder,  will be released this fall.

Forty years after being written, an unpublished novel by Pearl S. Buck, the Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, will be released this fall, her publisher said on Tuesday. 

The manuscript was stumbled upon in a storage unit in Texas and returned to the Buck family in December in exchange for a small fee, said Jane Friedman, the chief executive of Open Road Integrated Media, the publisher.

The Kindle Ebook is already available for pre-order on Amazon.com.  Remember that a portion of the proceeds from any purchases you make from Amazon through the links on this site benefit the Birthplace, so if you are interested in a pre-order, consider doing so here!

Beyond Pen Pals Educational Outreach in its Second Year

The Birthplace is continuing is Beyond Pen Pals program this year, once again working with the 8th grade class taught by Jan Jonese at Marlinton Middle School.  According to an article on the collaboration in the May 2nd edition of the Pocahontas Times, 

Pearl S. Buck Birthplace volunteers Chris Butsavage and Jolie Lewis are working with the students in the Beyond Pen Pals program, which connects them with a classroom in Bandung, Indonesia.

Butsavage just happens to be friends with a teacher in Bandung who helped connect the classrooms.

“I’ve been very close friends with him,” Butsavage said. “We went to college together at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He’s teaching English [there].”  Click here to read more.

Former Americorps Volunteer's Book about the Birthplace Now Available as an EBook

Spring and Summer at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace, by former Americorps volunteer Michael A. Toler, is now available as an EBook for $9.99 via Blub.com or on iTunes.  The book was the subject of an article by Suzanne Stewart in the May 9th issue of the Pocahontas Times.

While he was an AmeriCorps volunteer at Pearl S. Buck Birthplace, Michael Toler, now of Boston, Massachusetts, kept a blog about the Birthplace and a collection of photos on Instagram.

Toler never thought to combine the words and images in a book until his friend, graphic designer Martin Magee, made the suggestion...

Click here to continue reading.

The blog referred to in the quotation is, of course, the one you are reading now.  A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book benefit the Birthplace, so get your copy now.  

Horses, Scythes, Tomatoes, and Ice Cream. Sunday at the Pearl Buck Birthplace.

Sam Arbogast and his Suffolk Draft Horses

The Historic Garden Tour at the Birthplace today took a hands-on turn as participants were invited to take a turn at turning up a row in the field using the plough horses and cut down some cover crops using a scythe before sitting down for homemade ice cream.  

It turned out to be a perfect day for the event, in spite of a rainy morning that had us thinking we might have to postpone or even cancel the event again.  Fortunately it cleared and because the rain hadn't been as hard and concentrated as it had last Sunday morning, the ground was fine for ploughing.   

Changes or Where Did My Snack Food Go?

 When I walked up the to open the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace today, this is what the door looked like.  Do you notice anything different from this time last week?  Can you see all the ground that's been dug up, and how the gutters now go into the ground?  All that straw covers where the ground was dug up in order to install underground pipes called French Drains that carry rain water from the gutters underground and away from the house.

Today's Event Postponed One Week

PLEASE NOTE: Today's events at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace have been postponed due to wet ground and grass. Join us next week, August 26, at the same time!

Check out events at the Pretty Penny for an alternative event today!

New Items in the Gift Shop

Check out some of the new items in the Birthplace Gift Shop.  In addition to note cards and other items featuring images of the Birthplace, we've now carry Good Earth Organic Tea, and it has already proven to sell well.  Most varieties of tea originated in China, India or elsewhere in Asia thousands of years ago, so it was astute for this company to take their name from Pearl Buck's best selling novel.  It's delicious tea, too!

Seeking Used Copies of THE EXILE and FIGHTING ANGEL

We recently placed an order for some of Pearl S. Buck's novels in paperback to offer for sale in the gift shop, and they've already arrived. They will certainly make and attractive display, with their bright covers, but I was disappointed to find that you can no longer order new copies of The Exile or The Fighting Angel, the two books that most directly talk her parents' lives in West Virginia and the time she herself spent at the Birthplace.

It seems the books are no longer in print.  That is unfortunate.  I am reading the The Exile now and finding it very interesting.  So much so that as soon as I've finished this biography of her mother, I will proceed to that of her father,  The Fighting Angel.  Of course from our perspective, these are also the books it makes the most sense for us to stock.  Many of the stories we tell on our tour come directly from them.

Trip to Buck's Pennsylvania Home Planned

The Pocahontas Times reports:

Local fans of Pearl S. Buck are invited to join the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation, Inc. on November 3 and 4 for a visit to Buck's home in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. The overnight excursion will include transportation, lodging, a tour of Green Hills Farm and a showing of local playwright Courtney Smith's play Welcome Home.

For more information, continue reading the article in the Times. You may also contact us online or at (304) 653-4430.

Capacity Crowd for West Virginia Sesquicentennial Lecture

I knew we would have a good crowd for Kenneth Bailey's "Scratch 'em and Sue 'Em" lecture on Friday evening when I began receiving calls at the office asking if we were taking reservations.

Sure enough the Sydenstricker House was filled to capacity as Dr. Bailey, Professor of History, author, and one of the leading experts on the legal fall out of the Civil War in West Virginia, spoke about issues such as voting rights, property claims, and even the value of confederate money.

Need Birthplace Brochures?

I've noticed a number of attractions around the area that still have the old brochure depicted below in their racks.  It's several years old and contains inaccurate hours of operation.  

If you have these contact us for replacements.  Click this link to see the correct brochure.  

Old Brochure

New Brochure

2014: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Birthplace

In this 1970 photo Pearl Buck begins the restoration of her home by knocking out a piece of porch railing of her Birthplace while back West Virginia for an environmental seminar.  Four years later we held out grand opening on May 4, 1974.  Sadly, Pearl died at the beginning of March in 1973, so she didn't get to see the opening, but it must have already been clear the house would indeed be successful as a gateway to "new hopes, dreams and ways of life" as she wished it to be. 

The project was and has continued to be a community endeavor.  In the coming months we'll post photos and stories of that effort in this blog.  Everyone involved with the Birthplace, from the moment a commitment was made to save the home to today should feel some sense of pride in the collaborative endeavor.

May 4, 2014 will mark the 40th Anniversary of our opening, and we think it deserves to be celebrated.  Unfortunately, that porch railing that Pearl S. Buck is knocking taking a whack at in the picture is once again in need of repairs and painting, as is the entire house.

"What has Pearl S. Buck Done for You Lately?"

"What has Pearl S. Buck done for you lately?" That was the question posed "1 day ago" on Yahoo Answers. It's an odd question, considering she died over nearly 40 year's ago, but one assumes the person who posed it is asking about the impact of her legacy, not what she, personally, has done.

The best response, as chosen by visitors to the site, was highlights of her life taken from the Pearl S. Buck International (PSBI) website. To those who know little or nothing about her, it's informative, and reveals Pearl Buck to be a highly accomplished woman, but the question seems to be asking what is Pearl S. Buck's impact on the world today, and the response provided most definitely doesn't answer that. It begins,

A Week Ago Today

The tree that broke the fence also severed the power line to the Birthplace

Last Friday started out out wonderfully, and ended in devastation.  No doubt some of you have been wondering about damage at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace.  There's been a good deal of damage to trees, the fence and what seems to be minor damage to the exterior of both houses.  We've also lost our power line to the property. 

We'll only be able to really judge once the power's back on and we can take a good look around, inside and out, but though the damage will not be either cheap or easy to repair, it does not seem to be major.  We were fortunate.   Psychologically, though, the damage bites quite a bit.

Daleen Berry on Pearl S. Buck Writer's Workshop and Other News from Around the Web

The Pearl S. Buck Writers Workshop

Thanks to Eddy Pendarvis for forwarding along this interesting blog post, "What Pearl S. Buck, Blueberries and Bovines Have in Common," which begins as follows:

This morning I woke up from a dream in which I was trying to find a colorful clause to go with the verb “giggled,” as in “like a little girl.

That’s what happens when you go to a writing workshop taught by Jim Minick, author of several books, including The Blueberry Years. (While at Jim’s site, be sure to check out his wife Sarah’s baskets; they are exquisite!)

The workshop was held yesterday, in conjunction with Allegheny Echoes, at the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace in Hillsboro, W.Va. And it was wonderful, educational and hopefully made all of us better, stronger writers.  

Continue reading on Daleen Berry's Blog.

Other items related to Pearl S. Buck that appeared online recently include:

Gathering Blueberries for Treats to Serve at Workshop & Reading

Blueberries, Photo by Tina Brown

Yesterday my niece, Tina Brown went blueberry picking at White Oak Farm in Renick, WV to help Ginger Must, Laura Miller, and Acting Executive Director Sue Groves, gather fresh off the branch blueberries for the treats that will be served at tonight's events with blueberry farmer and prize-winning author Jim Minick.  At 6:00 Minick will don his farmer's cap for a Workshop on Growing Blueberries, and at 7:00 pm he'll read from The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family.  

Between the four of them they picked 7 1/2 plastic grocery bags full of blueberries, Tina said.  "They were heavy.  We picked about 100 lbs," Tina joked.  The treats will prove an excellent compliment to evening.  

Headlines from Pearl S. Duck Croquet Tournament

Congratulations to Jim Boswell, Mark Rooper and Allen Johnson, our first, second and third place winners of the Second Annual Pearl S. Buck Croquet Tournament.  

Jim Boswell hugs Pearl S. Buck Board President Gail Ratcliff after receiving his prize.

The winning team was from Boxley, also our official tournament sponsors, by a narrow margin. 

Final Round

The Final Round is well underway.

The Finalists