BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — The traveling Robert C. Byrd exhibit is on the move this week again, traveling from Shepherd University in Jefferson County down to Bluefield State College.
The university is planning a reception for the campus community honoring the late U.S. Senator on Sunday before students return the next day.
“Sen. Byrd’s impact was on the whole state, every single part of it,” said director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherd University Ray Smock. “Everywhere we go, we run across people who have Byrd stories to tell when they see things in the exhibit.”
Smock said the exhibit had traveled to Parkersburg and Tamarack in Beckley, with future stops planned in Morgantown and Elkins.
“People who have seen the exhibit have been impressed with its range and there’s some surprising objects, one of his childhood drawings of a cardinal that probably no one has ever seen.”
The exhibit also features a map of West Virginia showing various projects that Byrd had been involved with. But Smock said Byrd was also very active in foreign affairs.
“The statesman part is the thing that I think will surprise people. How he was an adversary on a lot of international events,” he said. “He had a huge international impact with the Panama Canal treaties and other items which weren’t very popular at the time but subsequently proved to be good, solid treaties.”
Beginning Wednesday through Sept. 1, the exhibit will be displayed at Bluefield State University’s Harris-Jefferson Student Center.
The centennial of Byrd’s birth is Nov. 20, 2017, when the exhibit will be at the Culture Center in Charleston for a grand celebration.