Aull Center

05/28/2026

to 1964, when Friends of the Library member Helen Madia and librarians Violet Hessler and Doris Wilson gleefully presented to the world the advanced new technology known as the book return slot!

05/21/2026

Aull Center staff share their research on the history of Monongalia County from 1930 to 1931.

05/20/2026

Thank you to Carol & Joe Julian for donating this circa 1900 family photo of local Morgantown family John and Harriet Reed on their 50th wedding anniversary. Our building's namesake Aaron Garlow was Harriet (Ross) Reed's nephew!

05/20/2026

What has eight arms and laughs like an idiot? An octopus watching our new Facebook program on Monongalia County in 1930 and 1931. To be fair, an octopus will laugh at almost anything. I say almost because once an octopus and I watched three episodes of Reba and he just stared at the TV and started sobbing. But I digress. Our newest Facebook Program on Monongalia County in 1930 and 1931 will drop at 1:00 on Thursday, May 21! It will drop faster than my blind dates expectations in 7th grade! So, heads up, and we'll see you here!

05/05/2026

Our peonies are in bloom! This cultivar has been bred to produce such large flowers that they collapse under their own weight... or perhaps it is the weight of human hubris...

04/29/2026

Coming soon to this page! A little history of our county in the years 1930 and 1931! Join the Time Travelers as we uncover tragedy, despair, and misery, all wrapped for you in a cheap veneer of humor. Speaking of our county, something to explore, why did Morgan County get the name Morgan, 44 years AFTER we got stuck with Monoglee...galalia...noolia... WHATEVER??? We shouldn't have left them that opening. Now we have to explain to all our out-of- state visitors that, no, we are NOT Mongolia, a country bordering China. But I digress.

04/27/2026

Downtown history program tonight! There will be snacks!

Next Monday, April 27 at 4:15pm, the Aull Center will be hosting WVU History Department Public History at WVU's Local History Research Methods class's final presentations! Graduate students will share their research on various topics in the history of downtown Morgantown. The event is open to the public, so come learn something about our community from its young historians!

04/22/2026

Happy National Library Week and happy Earth Day from the Aull Center! Today we remember Dr. Earl L. Core, who is well known for his scientific achievements in the fields of biology, botany & ecology. But did you know he was also a historian and library supporter? Dr. Core was a long-time member of the Morgantown Public Library Board of Trustees and had his own office in the library. The Aull Center's single most comprehensive local history source is his five-volume book series The Monongalia Story, some of which Dr. Core wrote in his office right next door!

04/22/2026

Greetings, people of Earth! Well, as you may know, the Morgantown Public Library will soon be turning 100 (like me). BTW - check out the new logo. Simple, pleasing to the eye (like me). So, our own researcher Bethany has been doggedly tracking down info on the early library and to that end has prepared a long, long list of newspaper articles from the local papers Dominion-News (which was divided in 1930 to become the New Dominion and the Morgantown Post, but I digress). These articles were published long before our Aull Center microfilm begins in 1968, so Bethany and her list have been making excursions to the WVU Library to access them. Shortly after arriving there the other day, Bethany finds that her list is no longer in her possession! She interrogated everyone there to no avail, and finally asks the maintenance person if she had seen a nondescript looking piece of 5x7 blue paper. She says yes, she's seen it! It went out in the garbage just now. Out. As in to the dumpster. This is where the story would sadly end for most researchers. BUT! Our intrepid warrior climbs right in! Sure enough there it is. None the worse for wear, except for a faint whiff of vinaigrette and banana peel! So when you are reading this amazing story of our first library, give a hats off to the Aull Center's new Dumpster Diva. "We who are about to DIVE salute you!"